Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath poked fun at the confusion over his accent last week, as he questioned RTÉ executives over the broadcaster’s ongoing payments scandal today.
On Wednesday, the RTÉ Board and executives arrived at Leinster House once again to face questioning from the Oireachtas Media Committee over RTÉ’s expenditure of public funds and governance issues.
During a hearing last week, Mr McGrath went viral when he asked RTÉ’s Interim Deputy General Adrian Lynch “who are you loyal to?”
Mattie McGrath: Loyal Vs Lying pic.twitter.com/ZfHy2vaA7D
— Rory Walsh (@rorywalshfilms) June 28, 2023
However, his question was misunderstood by Mr Lynch, who thought he asked: “Who are you lying to?”
Last week, RTÉ’s Chief Financial Officer Richard Collins said he believes “over €1 million” has gone through the broadcaster’s barter account over the past decade.
But on Tuesday evening – it was revealed there was more than one of these accounts.
The broadcaster used the barter account system for €1.6million in client entertainment and corporate hospitality over the last decade – nearly €400,000 more than previously disclosed.
The RTÉ Board met on Tuesday evening, and a spokesperson said it had no comment to make on the additional barter accounts.
They added that the broadcaster would provide comment and context regarding these barter accounts at today’s meeting of the Oireachtas Media Committee.
During today’s meeting, Mattie McGrath mentioned the confusion some people had with his accent last week, getting the word “lying” and “loyal” mixed up.
Poking fun at the misunderstanding, Mr McGrath then asked if RTÉ were actually “lying” during the meeting, based on recent information.
The Independent TD asked whether the Executive were fully truthful last week, or was it the subconscious influencing their misunderstanding.
Just weeks ago, the broadcaster was plunged into chaos when it was revealed that Ryan Tubridy’s earnings were publicly understated by €345,000 over the last six years.
The issue was identified during a routine audit of RTÉ’s 2022 accounts, prompting an independent review of the matter.
Last month, The RTÉ Board issued an apology over the error in Ryan’s reported salary, and later the presenter apologised for not questioning the broadcaster over his published earnings.
The scandal resulted in the suspension of RTÉ’s Director General Dee Forbes, who later resigned from her role.
During the initial hearing, it emerged that RTÉ underwrote a commercial sponsorship of Ryan by Renault.
RTÉ labelled invoices of €75,000 payments as “consultancy fees”, and the now-infamous barter account was used to pay them.
Minister Catherine Martin has since announced an independent examination of RTÉ, and the appointment of two Expert Advisory Committees, composed of experts in their field, to oversee the two different strands of this examination.
