The Taoiseach has criticised the “entitlement” at RTÉ after it was revealed that a Toy Show The Musical exec received €200,000.
Earlier this month, executives of the musical were asked to appear before the Dáil over it’s €2.2 million loss.
This follows the insistence of TDs at the Oireachtas media committee earlier this week, that details of pay-offs to two former executive board members, Rory Coveney and Richard Collins, be published by RTÉ.
In a statement released on Saturday, the broadcaster’s Director General Kevin Bakhurst said he had agreed with Mr Coveney, the man behind the musical, that it was best that he stand down from his role as Director of Strategy.
Mr Bakhurst said: “This enabled the beginning of the restructuring of the leadership team and the suppression of his role.”
Mr Coveney’s responsibility was passed to another executive, Adrian Lynch, with no additional compensation, on top of his role as Director of Audience, Channels and Marketing.
Mr Bakhurst continued: “Rory’s role became redundant, an exit payment was offered by RTÉ and accepted by Rory, and with no backfill being made, RTÉ will recoup that payment by July of this year.”
As Mr Coveney resigned his position last July, Saturday’s RTÉ statement indicates the man responsible for Toy Story The Musical, left with a year’s salary of around €200,000.
Spend on the musical, which took place in Dublin’s Convention Centre in December 2022, was the focus of public scrutiny last year when the payments scandal erupted.
Taoiseach Mr Varadkar has since told the Sunday Independent: “I think we need full information and clarity from RTÉ. The drip-feed of revelations is seriously damaging an important organisation that has a pivotal role in our democracy and national cultural identity.”
“We need to know how these redundancies or retirement lump sums were calculated, if they were in keeping with the rules and if the redundancies were real; that is, posts suppressed within the organisation to pay for it all.”
This comes after a report into the musical found that formal approval by the board for the show was neither sought nor provided, despite that being a requirement for projects with expenditure of above €2 million.
Earlier in the week, RTÉ released a revised report on the Toy Show: The Musical following calls to name the board members involved.
In the new report, 20 of those interviewed have consented to the inclusion of their names.
In a statement from the RTÉ board, the broadcaster said: “In compiling, preparing and producing its independent Report on Toy Show The Musical, Grant Thornton, in applying its methodology under its Terms of Reference to prepare the Report, made the decision to anonymise individuals’ names.”
“Following requests from the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport & Media and two Oireachtas committees for anonymity to be removed from the Report, RTÉ asked Grant Thornton if it could facilitate these requests. Grant Thornton subsequently contacted each individual included in the Report to ask if they would consent to their anonymity being removed.”
“Attached herewith is the resulting revised Report – in which 20 of those interviewed have consented to the inclusion of their names.”
The statement continued: “In line with its standard practice, the names of staff below Executive level in RTÉ will continue to be redacted.”
“All RTÉ Board members attending the Joint Oireachtas Committee this week consented to their names being included in the Grant Thornton Report and are happy to discuss the Grant Thorton Report into Toy Show The Musical in more detail with the Committee members, in order to provide the assurance needed that governance structures have been appropriately reformed and strengthened.”
For the full report click here.
The broadcaster predicted it would rake in €3.2 million (75,000 tickets); however, it actually only brought in €451,000 (11,044 tickets).
In a statement, Siún Ní Raghallaigh, Chair of the RTÉ Board said about the musical: “The Board acknowledged the serious deficiencies now highlighted in the Report at a Board meeting last July and has since taken the necessary steps to ensure there is no repeat of these failures.”
“The Report finds that Board approval was required for Toy Show the Musical, and it also finds that the formal approval of the Board was neither sought nor provided for.
“The Report clearly illustrates that the Board was not kept appropriately informed about the project as it was being developed. External expert advice was ignored. Information was also withheld from the Board. Significant contracts were committed to without the knowledge or approval of the full Board.
It continued: “The Executive should have been interrogated by the Board on the project, on an ongoing basis and in a much more rigorous fashion.”
The statement that was released in January, goes on to admit that “the commercial risks associated with an undertaking of this nature were grossly underestimated. The project was not appropriately stress tested.”
“The Report also highlights a failure in generally accepted accounting practices, in that sponsorship was not correctly presented to the Board and all costs were not properly captured and linked to the project.”.
Siún Ní Raghallaigh also added: “As Chair of the RTÉ Board I would like to apologise to the public and to the staff of RTÉ. The Board is focused on driving the change necessary to fully restore confidence in the organisation, and to working with Government to establish a sustainable funding model that will ensure that RTÉ can continue to deliver on its important public service media remit.”
