A report into RTÉ's ill-fated Toy Show the Musical found the production had overstated sponsorship revenue it raised by €75,000, and that some internal figures admitted there had been “little interrogation” of the finances behind the project.
The musical, which ran over several weeks in the Convention Centre in Dublin in December 2022, made a loss of €2.2 million, after a large shortfall in ticket sales. The project came in for major criticism and despite plans to stage the production annually it has since been scrapped.
A long awaited report by auditors Grant Thornton, published on Thursday, found issues with the recording of sponsorship from the show, which it said was “not in line with generally accepted accounting practices”.
In a statement, Siún Ní Raghallaigh, chair of the RTÉ board since November 2022, said the report showed information had been “withheld” from the board during the musical’s production.
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The report “clearly illustrates” that the board was “not kept appropriately informed about the project as it was being developed”, she said. It confirmed there was a “significant lapse in oversight” of the project, he said.
“External expert advice was ignored. Information was also withheld from the board. Significant contracts were committed to without the knowledge or approval of the full board,” she said.
One figure who attended key meetings about the show in early 2022 said to their recollection there was “very little, if any” concern about ticket sales, the report said.
The report found figures presented to the RTÉ board and its audit committee in early 2023 stated the musical had secured €120,000 in sponsorship. However, the actual figure was €45,000, and €75,000 from other revenue was recorded as sponsorship.
The report said there was “no objective justification” for the manner in which €75,000 had been recorded to overstate sponsorship revenues connected to the show.
It said at the time the “value of the loss” from the production was known, and that the accounting “did not materially affect the overall scale of the loss”. It said on balance overstating €75,000 in spot revenue as musical sponsorship “would not have significantly improved the reported loss” of the production.
The report stated that the number of ticket sales and number of shows posed a “significant risk” that the musical would not break even.
The report said board approval would have been required for the project, but it had found “no evidence” in minutes of board meetings that directors had voted to approve it.
Some board members told the review that oral presentations to the board on the musical were presented as a “briefing” or “fait accompli”.
One board member told the review they had “categorically” never been asked for approval for the production. While other RTÉ figures involved said they felt there had been “implicit approval” of the musical by the board, who they said were “very supportive” of the idea.
The report said it was suggested this “implicit approval” of the musical had been given at a board meeting on April 28th, 2022.
However, Grant Thornton stated that contracts to stage the show in the Convention Centre had been signed nine days before that meeting. The report said prior to the meeting some directors “had not attended, nor had they been invited to, any meetings” discussing the musical.
One board member said when the matter was discussed at the April 2022 meeting, the “ship had left the harbour” on the show.
“There was a script, there was a cast, there was a venue. So the idea of calling a halt to it at this point I think would have inflicted severe reputational damage to the organisation,” they told the review.
The review said that there was “no evidence” the board had raised concerns about the approval of the musical.
Dee Forbes, the former RTÉ director general who resigned amid the Tubridy payments scandal, was unavailable to be interviewed for the report “due to medical reasons”, it said.
Grant Thornton had previously examined how RTÉ made undisclosed payments to former Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy amounting to €225,000, which sparked the major scandal that has rocked the broadcaster since last June.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Ms Ní Raghallaigh said the fact contracts had been signed with the Convention Centre by the time the board was formally informed of the project was unacceptable. “The governance was not even there. This is just not acceptable how this happened,” she said.
Ms Ní Raghallaigh said she had confidence in the five current members of the board who were directors at the time. “There is collective responsibility here, not just on the part of the board but on the part of the executive and so on. We accept that collective responsibility,” she said.
The chair of the board said the move to restate revenue from elsewhere as sponsorship was “totally not appropriate”.
“I wasn’t there at the time; I am reading it and trying to understand it. It will never happen again. Take my word for it. This is not going to happen again in this way,” she said.
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