RTÉ has released a new report into the Toy Show The Musical, and why it failed.
The Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) of the RTÉ Board commissioned Grant Thornton to conduct an independent fact-finding review in to the Musical, which has received major criticisms due to its commercial losses of €2.2 million.
In the report RTÉ confirms a “significant lapse in oversight of the project”.
In a statement, the Siún Nà Raghallaigh, Chair of the RTÉ Board said:
“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.
“The Executive should have been interrogated by the Board on the project, on an ongoing basis and in a much more rigorous fashion,” it added.
The statement 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 Nà Raghallaigh 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.”
