Ireland

RTE imposes stricter threshold for board approvals after musical controversy

Toy Show The Musical recorded a 2.2 million euro loss after a single season in 2022.

RTE board chairwoman Siun Ni Raghallaigh (right) and RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst
RTE board chairwoman Siun Ni Raghallaigh (right) and RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst (Brian Lawless/PA)

The cost threshold blocking RTE projects from going ahead without board approval has been halved after it was revealed that a musical which did not receive a formal green light accrued millions of euro in losses.

It comes after a report into Toy Show The Musical – which recorded a 2.2 million euro loss after a single season in 2022 – found that that formal approval by the board for the musical was neither sought nor provided, despite that being a requirement for projects with expenditure of above two million euro.

It also found the board was not appropriately informed of the project throughout its development and the commercial risks were vastly underestimated.

RTE board chairwoman Siun Ni Raghallaigh is expected to again apologise to the Oireachtas media committee for deficiencies in governance.

In particular, she will say there was a significant lapse in oversight of Toy Show The Musical.

Join the Irish News Whatsapp channel

She will tell the TDs and senators that governance structures at RTE have been reformed and structured since the controversy.



Ms Ni Raghallaigh will outline how the relationship with the board and the executive has been redefined.

In addition, the board now receives the minutes of all scheduled meetings of RTE’s interim leadership team.

Risk assessments are to be centralised in all decisions of the leadership team.

In addition, a new formal approval process has been established for major expenditure projects and all submissions on expenditure approvals must include a business case and risk assessment.

The lower board authorisation limit will apply to sports rights, programme acquisitons, programme commissions and operating expenditure.

RTE director-general Kevin Bakhurst will tell deputies that reviews into governance failures at the broadcaster have helped guide the introduction of reforms.

He will say RTE has experienced a difficult and dispiriting period after the controversy into financial mismanagement at the broadcaster emerged last year.

Mr Bakhurst will outline an ambition to make RTE an organisation that the country can be proud of again.

Speaking on RTE Radio on Wednesday, chairwoman of the media committee Niamh Smyth said that former chair of the RTE board Moya Doherty, former RTE director-general Dee Forbes, and the broadcaster’s former head of finance Breda O’Keeffe and former director of strategy Rory Coveney were invited but declined to appear.

The Fianna Fail TD for Cavan-Monaghan said it was unfortunate that some “key players” would not be in attendance.

She said Ms Forbes responded with “sick certs to say she’s unavailable”.

“We have instructed the secretary of the committee to now seek out guidance for us as a committee as to where we can go with this,” she said, adding that they would need to speak to key players to compile a report.