Laois TD set to lead new grilling of RTÉ over pay to Turbridy

Laois Offaly TD Brian Stanley will lead a new round of scrutiny of RTÉ when station bosses appear TDs this week.

The Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) said it will meet early Thursday, 12 October, to resume examination of matters relating contractual, corporate governance, and accounting arrangements at RTÉ, which have impacted on and relate to the expenditure of public monies.

The meeting will again hear from representatives of RTÉ, including the Director General, Kevin Bakhurst, and members of the Interim Leadership team. The Secretary General of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts. Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Ms Katherine Licken, will also be in attendance.

Deputy Stanley Chairs the committee.

“This will be the Committee’s fourth engagement with RTÉ following revelations of payments to its former presenter Ryan Tubridy, payments that were part of a commercial arrangement that was underwritten by RTÉ.

“Following our engagements with RTÉ in June and July, the Committee requested additional information from RTÉ, including details on how management came to underwrite the commercial arrangement with Mr Tubridy, the operation and governance of the so-called barter account through which payments were made, and further information on exit packages and allowances paid to senior RTÉ executives.

“These revelations regarding the transparency of RTÉ’s payments to presenters remain a matter of significant public interest and this Committee is committed to ensuring there is complete transparency around the spending of public monies by all bodies in receipt of taxpayer funding, including RTE.

“Members look forward to discussing these and related matters with Ms Licken, Mr Bakhurst and their colleagues,” he said.

The committee meets at 9.30am on Thursday in Committee Room 3 can be viewed live on Oireachtas TV HERE.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.

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PAC is a standing committee of Dáil Éireann that focuses on ensuring public services are run efficiently and achieve value for money. Further information on the role and remit of the Committee can be found here.