RTÉ has capitulated in a row with a powerful Dáil committee over a note on payments to its former presenter Ryan Tubridy, in a move that came days before it seeks a Government bailout to avert insolvency.
Any rescue plan is likely to lead to hundreds of job cuts.
After refusing for months to provide the official record of a meeting in May 2020 on Mr Tubridy’s pay arrangements, the national broadcaster sent the contested document on Friday evening to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Two sources familiar with the committee’s affairs said TDs expect it will be Tuesday before they receive the note.
RTÉ had long resisted giving the note to the PAC for legal reasons, prompting politicians to warn of court action to compel its release to the committee.
The standoff came at a time when RTÉ is seeking a financial package worth tens of millions of euro from the Government to fund redundancies and broadcasting.
As a result, the row threatened to undermine RTÉ's case for Government money and the argument that station chiefs are committed to greater transparency as they battle to regain public trust after prolonged turmoil.
The PAC had earlier rejected a compromise proposal from RTÉ embracing the private release to the committee of a summary of the meeting note by Arthur Cox solicitors.
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The document centres on a May 2020 meeting at which the then-RTÉ director general Dee Forbes allegedly agreed with Mr Tubridy’s agent Noel Kelly that the company would guarantee payments to Mr Tubridy in a deal for personal appearances with Late Late Show sponsor Renault.
Citing Mr Kelly’s company NK Management, one part of the Arthur Cox summary of the note states:
“Refers to person from NK Management – we thought you’d underwrite – cannot in formal sense as that would compromise what we are trying to achieve.”
It continued: “The former director general will personally ensure that a portion of the sponsorship will always be apportioned to the individual.”
The new director general Kevin Bakhurst has called staff to a town hall meeting next Tuesday to discuss his rescue plan, which will involve voluntary redundancies but no compulsory cuts from the permanent staff.
However, certain contract workers have concerns that their contracts will not be renewed.
“There will be cuts, a smaller RTÉ but no compulsory redundancies,” said one person familiar with the plan, when asked whether hundreds of jobs would be cut.
As senior Government figures stress the need for binding commitments to overhaul RTÉ, Mr Bakhurst told staff his plan will set out “a new direction” for the organisation.
“This meeting will give me an opportunity to take you through our vision for the future and answer your questions before we share the document more widely,” Mr Bakhurst said, in a note calling staff to gather in the Late Late Show studio on Tuesday.
“I, along with my colleagues on the interim leadership team, will also be available to discuss our vision for RTÉ with you over the coming days and weeks and you will have an opportunity to share your views.”
RTÉ has been in the grip of crisis since the summer when its disclosure of undeclared payments to Mr Tubridy set off a cascade of revelations about deep governance failings and lax financial controls. Mr Tubridy lost his RTÉ career over the debacle.
The Bakhurst plan went to the Minister for Arts and Media, Catherine Martin, on Thursday evening. Ms Martin said it was “for RTÉ, and RTÉ alone, to outline its plan for the future”.
The national broadcaster is known to be facing a high bar to convince the Government it will fulfil public pledges to correct deep governance failings, with one senior figure saying there is concern at high levels in the Coalition to ensure the rescue plan avoids “fuzzy-wuzzy” commitments.
Minister for Finance Michael McGrath said the call on the Cabinet to provide interim finding was expected soon from Ms Martin.
“A recommendation to Government, I believe, is imminent in that regard, and certainly expected within the next very short number of weeks,” Mr McGrath said in Cork, according to RTÉ.
Mr McGrath went on to say a decision on longer-term funding would take more time, based on an assessment by Ms Martin’s department of the Bakhurst plan.
With station chiefs under political fire in a series of televised Oireachtas committees during the summer and since, large numbers of TV viewers have refused to renew the annual television licence.
With a cumulative €61 million licence income shortfall projected for 2023 and 2024, Mr Bakhurst said last month that RTÉ would run out of cash by early spring next year without special Government aid.
Ministers have been insisting that any special financial package must be conditional on the achievement of defined reforms to correct years of governance failings. Disclosures about lavish entertainment prompted claims that RTÉ was running a “slush fund” for spending on corporate clients.
Meanwhile, on Friday, RTÉ announced that Gavin Deans, former chief of media sales business Media Central, has been appointed commercial director in the national broadcaster.
