Incoming Director-General Kevin Bakhurst has vowed to “restore trust” in RTÉ after meeting with Minister Catherine Martin today.
The Media Minister met with Mr Bakhurst, chair of the RTÉ board Siún Ní Raghallaigh, and interim Deputy Director General Adrian Lynch at her Department.
The meeting with was due to happen tomorrow, but was brought forward by Minister Martin amid rising concerns over RTÉ’s ongoing payments scandal.
The Department said the meeting would “discuss how RTÉ will facilitate the completion of the examination and the immediate next steps they will be taking to contribute to the restoration of trust and confidence”.
Speaking after today’s meeting, Bakhurst described his conversation with Minister Martin as “frank” and “very useful”.
He also said he would outline his plans for RTÉ when he formally takes charge on Monday.
“My job is to restore trust, clearly that’s been severely damaged,” he told reporters. “Again, I apologise for that. But that’s my job, to restore trust in this organisation.”
Incoming RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst has said he had a frank and very useful meeting with Minister for Media Catherine Martin today. He told reporters that he set out his plans, which he will be announcing on Monday in more detail | https://t.co/DnMToRWo2s pic.twitter.com/CdXKsORE79
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) July 6, 2023
“That’s what I’ll try to do. And I’ll be setting out a lot more detail on Monday about how we intend to do that.”
The incoming DG said trust in RTÉ has been “severely diminished” and said it’s been “painful to watch” the “highly damaging few weeks for RTÉ”.
“I fully recognise that morale is on the floor and my priority next week is to get around the organisation and talk to staff and hear their concerns,” he continued.
Mr Bakhurst also acknowledged the “huge challenge” he faces “isn’t quite the challenge that I thought I was taking on when I took on this job”.
