Who were the RTÉ board members and executives who appeared before Public Accounts Committee?

Moya Doherty, Adrian Lynch, Siún Ní Raghallaigh and more answered questions by politicians on Thursday

Siún Ní Raghallaigh chair of the RTÉ board and Robert Shortt RTÉ board member arriving for the Public Accounts Committee meeting. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos
Siún Ní Raghallaigh chair of the RTÉ board and Robert Shortt RTÉ board member arriving for the Public Accounts Committee meeting. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos

Moya Doherty served as chairwoman of the board of RTÉ from 2014 until 2022. Previously, she was a director of television production company Tyrone Productions and was a founding director of the independent national commercial radio station Radio Ireland, which was later rebranded to Today FM.

Willie O’Reilly, former group commercial director of RTÉ, left the company several years ago to devote more time in the charity sector. He worked in broadcasting for more than 30 years in the private sector and in RTÉ, where he was executive producer of The Gerry Ryan Show for a ten-year period.

Adrian Lynch is the interim deputy director general of RTÉ, having previously worked as channel controller for RTÉ One and RTÉ 2. He joined the national broadcaster in December 2014, according to his LinkedIn.

Geraldine O’Leary is the director of commercial at RTÉ. She joined the national broadcaster in 1997 as manager television sales and was promoted to director of sales and marketing in 1999, before being appointed as commercial director in 2003. She was appointed Group Head of Commercial in 2018.

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Paula Mullooly has held the position of director of legal affairs at RTÉ since 2019. A graduate of law at Trinity College Dublin, Ms Mullooly acted as legal counsel to Independent News and Media before joining RTÉ.

Rory Coveney, director of strategy, has been with RTÉ since 2007 in a variety of roles. Since his appointment to directorship in 2011, he has led a new strategy function encompassing corporate strategy, new ventures and innovation, public affairs, and strategic risk management.

RTÉ’s chief financial officer Richard Collins has been in the role since 2020. Before joining RTÉ, he spent 13 years in the retail sector. Most recently he served as Director of Finance at Dunnes Stores, he was also finance director at Superquinn during the company’s integration into the Musgrave Group.

Siún Ní Raghallaigh, chairwoman of the board of RTÉ, took up the role in November last year, having worked in media or television production since 1987. Most notably, she served as managing director of TG4 between November 1994 and March 2001, before leaving the broadcaster. She later returned to the organisation as chairwoman of its board in April 2012 for a 10-year term. She was also chief executive of Ardmore Studios and Troy Studios, which work on international films, located in Limerick, until 2021.

Anne O’Leary, the chair of the audit and risk committee, was first appointed to the board of RTÉ in 2014, with her term coming to an end in November 2024. She is a member of the institute of directors, with RTÉ describing her as an “experienced business executive with a proven track record in helping companies develop new routes to market and exploit technology to optimise potential”.

Robert Shortt joined RTÉ as a journalist on the News at One in 1998 and has since worked across many of the programmes in the News & Current Affairs division. He is the RTÉ staff representative on the board, with his term due to end in November.

Board member Dr PJ Mathews is an associate professor in the School of English, Drama and Film at UCD and specialises in Irish literature and culture. He was appointed to the board in November 2014 and his term will come to an end next November.

Shauna Bowers

Shauna Bowers

Shauna Bowers is Health Correspondent of The Irish Times