RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst challenged to prove 'he's better than Dee Forbes'

RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst has been challenged by politicians to prove ‘he’s better than Dee Forbes’ and release details of all exit packages that have been approved under his tenure.

Cabinet sources have told EVOKE’s sister paper the Irish Daily Mail that they want full transparency and disclosure on all packages, as questions mount on the number of six-figure financial agreements granted to those who left RTÉ in the wake of a series of damaging revelations.

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The chair of the Oireachtas Media Committee, Niamh Smyth, told the Mail that Mr Bakhurst should ‘prove you’re better than Dee Forbes, come clean and publish the exit packages’.

Dee Forbes. Pic: Supplied.

‘We’re beginning to see the possibility that further exit packages were made to people under the new regime. That will be very difficult for the public to swallow,’ she said. ‘Mr Bakhurst needs to show us he is different to Dee Forbes, come clean and show us the details of the exit packages that have been given.’

The Fianna Fáil TD added: ‘I really hope that we are not seeing more of the same.’ Labour’s Marie Sherlock, who challenged RTÉ executives this week at the Media Committee, said the revelations that resignations came with golden handshakes ‘utterly flies in the face of the image that things are being differently under the new DG [director general]’.

‘It is simply not acceptable that senior directors and managers in the organisation were rewarded for failure,’ she said. Mr Bakhurst, who took the reins at RTÉ in July last year as the broadcaster became embroiled in scandal, has found himself at the centre of fresh controversy at Montrose.

Kevin Bakhurst arriving at Leinster House or the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sports and Media. Pic: Collins Photos

At the Media Committee on Wednesday, Mr Bakhurst revealed that several executives who ‘retired’ from RTÉ and were mired in controversies received financial packages to leave. A €450,000 exit package was given to former RTÉ chief financial officer Breda O’Keeffe without the knowledge of the full executive board. It also emerged that Rory Coveney, the former director of strategy at RTÉ who was the ‘driving force’ behind the multimillion euro loss-making Toy Show The Musical, and Richard Collins, the former RTÉ chief financial officer, both received exit packages from RTÉ.

The revelations have sparked fresh fury at the handling of public money by RTÉ, with TDs describing these revelations as ‘breath-taking’. Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon, also a member of the Media Committee, said: ‘It is unacceptable that the committee should wait until these figures are disclosed in RTÉ’s annual financial report whenever it is published with the information anonymised.

‘The new RTÉ director general is seeking to build a new culture of transparency and accountability when it comes to governance and financial practices at the broadcaster. I have requested information pertaining to all exit packages approved by RTÉ’s executive management since our investigation into these payments began in June,’ he said.

RTE Board member Anne O’Leary and Deputy Director General Adrian Lynch, RTE Board Siún Ní Raghallaigh and RTE DG Kevin Bakhurst arriving at Leinster House. Pic: Collins Photos

‘Our objective is to ensure that all exit packages comply with the protocols and procedures of exit schemes and that they were executed according to proper HR protocols. We are requiring the amounts and identities of each individual who has resigned or received an exit package in 2023,’ said Mr Dillon.

Annual company accounts for RTÉ show that €2.6million of ‘termination benefits’ were given to ‘key management personnel’ between 2017 and 2022 when Mr Bakhurst’s predecessor Dee Forbes was in charge. This week, Mr Bakhurst refused to reveal details of exit packages for Mr Coveney and Mr Collins, citing legal constraints. But one senior Cabinet source told the Mail that they believe Mr Bakhurst has no option but to release the full details of all payments.

‘He [Mr Bakhurst] decided to go against the legal advice he received by disclosing Breda O’Keeffe’s payment at the committee, so that line has been crossed and you can’t decide to walk back from that now,’ they said. In the Dáil on Thursday, Tánaiste Micheál Martin insisted there has to be an end to secrecy and there needs to be ‘full transparency and accountability with the public’.

Former Chief Financial Officer of RTÉ Breda O’Keeffe Former chairwoman of the board of RTÉ Moya Doherty arrive for a Joint Committe Meeting on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport & Media on RTE Expenditure at Leiinster House on Kildare Street, Dublin. Pic: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

The former head of legal at RTÉ, Paula Mullooly, also resigned last year after the scandal emerged, but RTÉ confirmed that she did not receive an exit package. Deputy Smyth said details of €2.6million in ‘termination benefits’ given to ‘key management personnel’ during the tenure of Ms Forbes, between 2017 and 2022 also need to be revealed.

‘I will never forget sitting at a committee last summer and being stuck to my seat, when Mr Coveney said to me that the €2.2million lost on the Toy Show [musical] made no material difference to the financial situation of RTÉ. I mean, that just demonstrates that the bubble these people have lived in. €2.6million in termination packages, to any organisation is catastrophic. This is just more of it.

‘They are living in parallel universes and at the same time, coming into committee meeting after committee meeting, talking about a broken TV licence system. And it’s just breathtaking,’ she said.

Dee Forbes. Pic: Tom Honan

The Mail revealed on Friday that Ms O’Keeffe’s business case to Ms Forbes on her proposed departure from the national broadcaster and how the €450,000 payment could be presented as a cost-saving measure in order to qualify for the voluntary exit package, given that her position was not made redundant, was presented ‘orally’ and not put in writing.

While Ms Forbes has repeatedly declined requests to come before the committee for questioning, citing personal health grounds, Ms Smyth said that the committee can offer a hearing by video-call if Ms Forbes could testify ‘from the comfort of her own home’, She said this opportunity could be open to those executives who have left RTÉ and have new jobs, saying: ‘We can do it from their new boardrooms.’