Some RTÉ payments may have been 'on the wrong side of the law', says Varadkar

Questions were raised about the use of the barter account at RTÉ for the entertainment of corporate clients

Fri, 30 Jun, 2023 - 10:15

Paul Hosford and Ciarán Sunderland in Brussels

The Taoiseach has said he cannot rule out the possibility that some payments at RTÉ were "on the wrong side of the law" but stopped short of calling for a Garda investigation at the broadcaster.

Questions were raised about the use of the barter account at RTÉ for the entertainment of corporate clients after two marathon sessions with Oireachtas committees.

Mr Varadkar, speaking in Brussels, said he did not want to assume anything illegal had occurred at RTÉ, but said that it is possible.

"I don't think we can rule out the fact that it's not just a case of irregular payments, that some of these payments may have been on the wrong side of the law. But I don't want to jump to that conclusion."

Mr Varadkar said he was "not fully across the issue" but said it was not unusual for large companies or public bodies to entertain clients.

"The fact that it was so untransparent, even concealed, that payments were made for work that perhaps wasn't done. That's much more serious, I think, and is a matter of real concern."

He said that "going forward" there is an issue with how RTÉ manages its accounts in terms of separating public and commercial income.

"It did concern me to hear that payments were - or it would appear anyway - that payments were made by RTÉ to outside contractors for work that wasn't actually done. That does raise issues in terms of accounting rules, and company law. But I think we're not yet at that point."

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The Taoiseach said he was not sure legal privilege should be waived around some of the documents due to be given to the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee.

"I don't know the exact circumstances that are there, but individuals, companies, governments use legal privilege because if you're involved in a court case if somebody's suing you, and the fact that you're forced to release all your documents and the other side isn’t, puts you at an enormous disadvantage.

"So there is a reason for legal privilege - I don't know whether it's appropriate in this case or not. I just don't know enough about it."

The Oireachtas Media Committee will meet today to discuss inviting Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly to come before it to account for his pay deal.

€1.25m went through RTÉ ‘slush fund’ barter accounts