Government has legal fears over sacking RTÉ executive board
Taoiseach State Open Picture: Condemning Leo Board Under Pensation Executive Said Potentially And Dismissal' To Constructive 'would Leave Unfair Be Would The Varadkar Entire Rté's Leah Farrell/rollingnews Claims
Sacking RTÉ’s executive board could leave the State open to legal battles and significant payouts, senior Government sources have said.
With pressure mounting for heads to roll, the Government is fearful that direct intervention now could backfire ahead of the conclusion of three independent reviews into the hidden payments scandal at the broadcaster.
“Sacking them all is the easiest thing to do but rarely the right thing to do,” said a senior source.
Another Cabinet minister said they did not believe executives would be sacked following a meeting to be held later on Thursday.
Media Minister Catherine Martin will hold an emergency meeting with incoming director general (DG) Kevin Bakhurst, interim DG Adrian Lynch, and chairwoman of the board Siún Ní Raghallaigh. She said the drip feed of information has further eroded the RTÉ board’s “trust and confidence in the executive” and the board has requested “swift action be taken”.
Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley, who is chair of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, said one of the first things Mr Bakhurst needs to do is to ask some of the executives involved in the current controversy to step aside.
The “dysfunctionality” within the station had been known for some time, he told RTÉ radio’s on Thursday.
“What's needed here is substantial change. The new director general needs to take decisive action. And I think one of the first things he needs to do is that he needs to ask some of the senior executives to step to one side.
“Obviously, you want to keep them accountable. So that means keeping them on the payroll, unfortunately. But they do need to step to one side straight away. That's the minimum that's required here.
“I think that the examinations and the inquiries into the barter and into the other matters, that's important, that process, we do need to see an interim report on that because it shouldn't be allowed to drag on too long over the summer.
Meanwhile, Grant Thornton is to conduct an investigation into Toy Show: The Musical after it emerged that the production lost €2.2m.
The move follow another day of explosive revelations, including that RTÉ operated not one but three barter accounts — Astus, Active, and Miroma. Over the last 10 years, €1.6m was spent on clients and hospitality.
Documentation shows thousands of euro were spent on a mix of flip-flops, alcohol, lavish hotel stays, an elite London social club, balloons, and tickets for matches and concerts from the “slush fund” between 2012 and last year. The spend included:
- €26,000 on Bruce Springsteen and Ed Sheeran concerts;
- €33,400 on two golf outings held for clients at Powerscourt in 2016 and 2018;
- In 2019, some €65,000 was spent on flights to the Rugby World Cup in Japan, with another €47,000 spent on hotels;
- A further €138,456 was spent on six ten-year IRFU season tickets, at a cost of €23,000 apiece;
- €4,957 on 200 pairs of Havaianas flip-flops for an RTÉ summer party for agencies and clients in June 2016;
- €23,100 on 36 tickets to the 2016 Champions League Final;
- €3,608 on 60 Ireland jerseys purchased for Euro 2016;
- €6,009 on three years’ membership of the exclusive Soho House club in London from 2019 to 2021;
- €2,161 on balloons for an RTÉ client summer party in August 2016.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil he has confidence in the RTÉ executive board for now but said he would be reserving the right to change his position “based on what happens in the coming days”.
He warned that due process must be afforded to senior members of RTÉ as condemning an entire executive board would “not only be unfair but would potentially leave the State open to compensation claims under constructive dismissal”.
The controversy is set to rumble on for at least another week as Ryan Tubridy and Noel Kelly of NK Management said they will be available to appear before the media committee and the Public Accounts Committee next week for questioning.
It also emerged that an RTÉ staff member had a car on loan for five years without approval and only returned the vehicle on Tuesday. Mr Lynch said it is “possible” there may be other secret car deals and he was awaiting information. He said he could not disclose who the individual is for GDPR reasons but that “I’m sure it’ll come out anyway”.