RTÉ boardroom leaks ‘very unfortunate’, says chairwoman

Leaks to the media about a “pretty fraught” meeting of the RTÉ board that delayed its approval of a director general were “very unfortunate”, the chairwoman of the board, Siún Ní Raghallaigh, has told the Oireachtas media committee.

“I would say that the process that we went with was a rigorous process. It was competitive and it was a unanimous decision by the board. It was very unfortunate what happened, nobody wanted to see that,” Ms Ní Raghallaigh said.

She was speaking in response to a question from Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne, who said it was “not appropriate” that details from the selection process were aired in the media as this was “completely unfair” to the candidates involved. Mr Byrne asked the RTÉ chairwoman what assurances she could give in relation to the confidentiality of future processes.

“It happened, and I had to deal with it, and that’s what we’re doing. We have at the board healthy debate, rigorous debate. I think that’s as it should be, that’s part of the process,” Ms Ní Raghallaigh said.

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“We also have obligations under the Broadcasting Act as board members and we have a code of conduct we all adhere to as well, and that’s what we’re working with. Moving forward, I think everybody would agree that it wasn’t ideal, but it happened. I can’t un-happen it.”

[ Siún Ní Raghallaigh profile: A new chair for a new RTÉ? ]

Later in the hearing, the former TG4 chairwoman – who was appointed to the RTÉ role in November 2022 – admitted there was “a job to build up trust again” but said this was “the way we are going”.

The session of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media follows the appointment on Tuesday of Kevin Bakhurst, the former RTÉ news and current affairs managing director and deputy director general, as the broadcaster’s next director general. He will succeed Dee Forbes, whose seven-year term is due to expire this July.

[ Kevin Bakhurst profile: Second time proves the charm for new RTÉ boss ]

Ms Ní Raghallaigh and two other RTÉ board members on the selection panel chose Mr Bakhurst as their preferred candidate to lead the public service broadcaster.

But this decision was not put to a vote at a meeting of the RTÉ board on Good Friday, subsequently described as “not pleasant”, after a small number of board members queried why a more transformational figure had not been selected.

This was understood to be a reference to An Post chief executive, David McRedmond, who had been a candidate but was not shortlisted after interviewing for the position in mid-March.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh said she “was not disagreeing with” Fianna Fáil Senator Shane Cassells after he suggested the incident had caused “brand damage” to RTÉ.

[ Laura Slattery: Who would want to be director general of RTÉ now? ]

She said she was unable to comment on individuals after Mr Cassells asked her a question about the candidacy of Mr McRedmond.

Alan Dillon, the Fine Gael TD standing in for his Fianna Fáil colleague Niamh Smyth as chairman of the committee, then asked Mr Cassells to avoid discussing individuals who were not present.

Several members of the committee offered their congratulations to Mr Bakhurst on his appointment at the hearing, which covered a wide range of topics from the timetable for licence fee reform to the quantity of repeats on RTÉ's television channels.

Asked about RTÉ's location at Montrose, Ms Ní Raghallaigh said no recent valuation had been carried out on the site, some 8.64 acres of which were sold for €107.5 million in 2017.

“It’s like everything – it is part of the mix that we are reviewing,” she said of RTÉ's Donnybrook base. A strategic review of all RTÉ's operations is likely to be completed later this year, she indicated.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh declined to answer a series of questions from committee members relating to editorial matters at RTÉ – including whether The Late Late Show has “run its course” – on the basis that this is not within her remit as chairwoman.