New details of Doireann Garrihy’s horse racing promotion have been revealed, amid calls for RTÉ stars to disclose their sponsorship deals.
Brand deals between RTÉ talent and other companies have been subject to intense scrutiny ever since the Ryan Tubridy payments scandal hit headlines.
While the deals are separate to RTÉ contracts, it’s understood they have to be approved by a line manager at the state broadcaster.
Back in July, the Dáil heard that 2FM presenter Doireann bagged €20k to promote Cheltenham by the publicly funded Horse Racing Ireland (HRI).
The Sunday World has since revealed HRI spent close to €200,000 paying influencers to help market racing over a five-year period – working with stars such as former rugby player Rob Kearney, the 2 Johnnies, and Doireann on campaigns.
Doireann’s briefing said the HRI was not looking for a “huge output” from her and that they would love input from her on creating content “that will speak to her audiences … and she knows them best”.
In a creative plan, the governing body said it would like the Dancing with the Stars host to announce to her followers that she would be attending the Dublin Racing Festival last year, but that it should not come across as “a sales message”.
The brief, which was released under FO, said: “She’s excited to go, what should she wear [Outfit] A or Outfit B.”
It said possible content would include a skit with a “fake reporter”, a tipster challenge, and “quick-fire questions” with trainers and jockeys.
The brief added: “We would love [Doireann] to ‘story’ the full day at the races and then cut into a reel from the day to sit on her channel.”
The briefing for Rob, who recently welcomed his first child with Jess Redden, was focused on the fact that he had recently bought a horse for jumps racing.
“It would be best not to mention that The Very Man [name of Rob’s horse] is a jumps horse,” the brief added.
HRI was also keen to emphasise high standards of animal welfare in the sport, writing in the briefing: “Rob has been to Jessica’s [Harrington] yard and seen the unbelievable care and attention the horses are given, from their exercise plans, facilities, vets, farriers, horse physios etcetera. No stone is left unturned.”
The body also teamed up with stylist Courtney Smith for a campaign involving young designers.
Another campaign for Instagram stars said HRI was looking for the influencers to attend the races with two or three of their friends.
The influencers would then “post three or four stories of them enjoying the day — show the food, drink, horses, fun with friends and live music”.
The brief added: “Focus on the fact that it is a day jam-packed with entertainment — something for everyone.”
Influencers were also asked to make clear that their posts were sponsored, using hashtags of #ad or #sp [sponsored post] in the captions.
A HRI guide for using influencers said it was essential that partnerships felt “genuine, natural, and authentic”.
While HRI did not comment on the report, TD Catherine Murphy confirmed over the summer that €194,400 — excluding VAT — had been spent on 23 separate deals between 2018 and the end of last year.
At the time, Ms Murphy called for a register to be set up for contractors to declare all their earnings, following the lack of transparency by RTÉ.
She highlighted the large sum of money Doireann received for the partnership deal with Horse Racing Ireland as an example of the need for a register, telling he Dáil: “Through a recent set of parliamentary questions I tabled about influencers, I discovered some people can earn quite a lot of additional money.”
“Doireann Garrrihy was paid €20,000 promoting a horse racing festival – actually Cheltenham – by the publicly funded Horse Racing Ireland incredibly promoting an event in a different jurisdiction.”
RT€ Secret Payments
RTÉ stars Doireann Garrihy and Eoin McGee were paid substantial public funds by State bodies,..@CathMurphyTD of the Social Democrats, claimed the RTÉ star Doireann Garrihy has been paid €20,000 by the publicly-funded Horse Racing Ireland to promote… pic.twitter.com/M2PpRG6tbp
— Mick Caul (@caulmick) July 4, 2023
