Put RTÉ under remit of state spending watchdog, report into broadcaster says

The Comptroller and Auditor General is now set to take over the scrutiny of the RTÉ accounts. The Coalition will publish three reports into RTÉ’s culture, governance, human resources, finance and barter account next week.

The investigations were commissioned after the Ryan Tubridy payments scandal at RTÉ erupted last summer. Further controversies followed over the spending on the barter accounts, the Toy Show The Musical flop and substantial golden handshakes for executives.

It was found in the reports that there was poor corporate governance in RTÉ and that the board was not informed of relevant aspects of the operation, including the barter account.

The reviews will also say legislation needs to be brought in to put RTÉ on a secure financial footing.

The Government has committed to making a decision on the future funding of RTÉ before the summer break.

Among the recommendations are that RTÉ should come under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General. The reports will be critical of the level of independent oversight of the accounts within the organisation.

The Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has already recommended that RTÉ be brought back under the statutory remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General. Publishing its report assessing key issues raised after the payments scandal at RTÉ came to light last year, the PAC put forward 21 recommendations on six issues assessed by the committee.

The topics assessed include the underwriting of payments made to former Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy and the understatement of Tubridy’s earnings.

Media Minister Catherine Martin will bring the reports to the Cabinet next week and they will then be published.

Last summer, Ms Martin ordered two expert reviews into RTÉ. The first was tasked with examining the broadcaster’s culture and governance. The second was to look at HR issues, including the payment of contractors’ fees, the use of agents and short-term employment contracts.

Separately, she also ordered forensic accountants Mazars to examine the use of barter accounts by RTÉ.

An interim report on the use of such accounts was published last year, but the final one was submitted to the minister last week.

Because the reports were complementary, Ms Martin said she had expected them to be submitted and published together. All of the reports were originally due at the end of February, but were then delayed as they went through a fact-checking exercise and processes to ensure fair procedures.

Professional services firm Crowe Advisory Ireland and legal firm McCann FitzGerald assisted members of the expert advisory committee.

These reports were separate to the reports carried out by RTÉ into the mysterious payments to Tubridy.

The Media Minister has expressed a preference for scrapping the TV licence and paying RTÉ directly from exchequer funding.

But there has been pushback from Tánaiste Micheál Martin, Finance Minister Michael McGrath and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe.

A decision on the future funding will take account of the drop off in licence-fee payment.