RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst has said he understands the anger from staff over a former chief financial officer being given an exit package worth 450,000 euro.
The exit package was not brought before the executive board for approval and was the only case where the terms of the programme were not adhered to, according to an independent report by McCann FitzGerald published last month.
The report stressed that the responsibility for this rested with RTE, as individuals were not responsible for putting their applications before the executive board for approval.
The value of the payment to Ms O’Keeffe came to light as RTE executives and board members appeared before the Oireachtas Media committee following the publication of two reports – one that looked at two voluntary exit schemes at RTE and one that looked at Toy Show The Musical.
Formal approval by the RTE board for the musical, which recorded a 2.2 million euro loss after a single season in 2022, was neither sought nor provided, despite it being a requirement for projects costing more than two million euro.
Chair of the Media Committee Niamh Smyth said she was under the impression that some actions “intended to deceive the board members who were there at the time about what the real picture was around Toy Show The Musical”.
Board member Anne O’Leary said she believed there was “an element of deception” that “deliberately it kept away from the rigorous interrogation” of the audit and risk committee of RTE.
Board member David Harvey said there was “very little that an ordinary board member can do when normal proven procedures are circumvented… and it was endemic in the organisation”.
Mr Bakhurst, who has pledged reform at Ireland’s public service broadcaster since taking over last summer, said the organisation had faced legal issues in trying to publish the independent report.
Appearing before the committee on Wednesday alongside RTE executives and board members, Mr Bakhurst said it was “concerning to me the way that Breda’s package was agreed”, and that he has “absolute sympathy for the staff who are outraged about it because I’m fairly outraged about it myself”.
Under questioning from Senator Malcolm Byrne, he also said he had received a letter from the solicitor of Ms O’Keeffe on Tuesday night “setting a range of things she would like me to say at committee”.
He said: “I even got a letter, as of yesterday evening, from the solicitors of the previous chief financial officer setting out a range of things she would like me to say in committee and the response was, ‘You were invited, you can come in and say them yourself if you want to’.”
He said the organisation had faced “significant” legal pressure in relation to the McCann Fitzgerald report.
“We have had significant legal pressure over months to get this report out, and to deal with this issue, and there is a legal threat over this,” Mr Bakhurst said under questioning from Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon.
After Mr Bakhurst initially said he could not answer the questions due to “confidentiality”, Mr Dillon argued that it should be answered in the interest of “transparency” and “accountability”.
Mr Bakhurst responded: “I agree with you, transparency is important, I agree with you that it’s important in this case. Breda O’Keeffe was paid 450,000 euros to leave.”
Human resources director Eimear Cusack was questioned about her decision to sign off on the exit package for Ms O’Keeffe, which did not comply with its redundancy scheme but was approved by former director general Dee Forbes.
She said of the voluntary exit schemes at RTE, that there were 177 people left from the first scheme carried out in 2017 and 26 from the second scheme in 2021, “all of whom went through due process”.
“And I would have not seen one being as high as that, no,” she said.
Asked if the role of chief financial officer was “suppressed”, she added: “I was told that the cost savings will be achieved. As I said earlier, looking back today, I should have pushed back harder. In that scheme, role suppression was not the only criteria, which is different from 2021, which was run differently.”
Speaking to Ms Cusack at the committee, Sinn Fein TD Imelda Munster said: “If you were doing your job as director of HR, you could say ‘I can’t sign that because it says ‘approved by the executive board”.
“If I sign that I will be party to a lie. At no stage did you intervene as head of HR, at no stage did you speak up and say what is being done here is wrong.
“Were you afraid of Dee Forbes? Were you afraid of questioning her? Were you afraid of tackling this?”
Ms Cusack said she “wasn’t afraid of Dee Forbes”, adding that she took full responsibility for the oversight in signing off the letter.
Ms Munster told Mr Bakhurst that it will be difficult to build up trust with the public when a board member who “never spoke up” is still on the executive board.
Mr Bakhurst said: “There have been consequences at the most senior level in RTE.
“There have been consequences at executive level. I judge each individual case on its merits.
“Eimear made a mistake, she said that in this case. The one thing I would say is I have worked with many heads of HR in my time, Eimear is extremely good as head of HR.
“She is delivering change and fairness across the organisation.”
Chairwoman of the RTE board Siun Ni Raghallaigh and Mr Bakhurst reaffirmed their aim to reform and win back public trust at RTE following a series of governance and financial control revelations last year.
Mr Bakhurst said he cannot give “a categorical guarantee” that there is nothing else that will come to light, but added: “I sincerely hope there is nothing else, I’m not aware of anything”.
Speaking at the start of the committee, Ms Smyth said it was “regrettable” that a number of former board members could not attend the committee meeting.
She said: “It should also be noted that the following persons were also invited but regrettably have not been in a position to attend today.
“They are Dee Forbes, former director general of RTE; Geraldine O’Leary, former commercial director of RTE; Breda O’Keeffe, former chief financial officer at RTE; Jim Jennings, former director of content at RTE; Richard Collins, former chief financial officer at RTE; Connor Murphy, former board member of RTE; Rory Coveney, former director of strategy at RTE; Moya Doherty, former chair of the RTE board; and Ian Hill, former deputy chair of the board of RTE.
“A number of the invited guests were unable to attend on the grounds of illness and ill health and we do wish them a speedy recovery.”
She added at the end of the committee: “I would appeal to Ms Forbes if she is watching in to please make herself available to this committee at some point. We do not want to go down the road of compelling but we may be left with no option.”
She made a similar plea to the former chair of the board Ms Doherty and Mr Coveney.
