Thursday’s Top Stories: RTÉ Toy Show the Musical’s planned shows too few for break even - report; Ireland should support return home for Ukrainians, says O’Gorman

RTÉ Toy Show the Musical’s planned shows too few for break even and sponsorship overstated - report

The number of showings planned for the RTÉ Toy Show the Musical was never enough to break even while the amount of sponsorship secured was overstated, a new report into the controversy has found.

Minister for Media Catherine Martin has received the Grant Thornton report which examines governance around the Toy Show the Musical, which went on to record losses of €2.2 million. The show ran over several weeks at the Convention Centre, Dublin, in late 2022.

Three senior sources have said the matter is being viewed as extremely serious within Government and that it comes at a sensitive time when Ministers were due to weigh up future funding models for the broadcaster.

Top News Stories

• Ireland should support return home for Ukrainians, says O’Gorman: Ireland should support Ukrainians to return to their war-torn country by rebuilding infrastructure and possibly paying for travel back there, Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman has said.
• Motion for Ireland to back South Africa’s genocide case against Israel is defeated in Dáil: A Social Democrats motion calling on the Government to support South Africa’s case against Israel under the Genocide Convention in the International Court of Justice has been defeated in the Dáil.
• Close to a year’s housing supply held up in planning delays or court challenges, report says: The construction of almost 21,000 homes in strategic housing sites, the majority in Dublin, has been held up because of decision-making logjams at An Bord Pleanála while a further 8,000 units are on hold because of judicial reviews, according to a new report by construction firm Mitchell McDermott.
• Sunak offers concession on Irish Sea border to tempt DUP back to Stormont: British prime minister Rishi Sunak has offered Brexit concessions to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in return for the party’s co-operation in restoring the Stormont executive, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.
• Check out today's Most Read stories
• Join The Irish Times WhatsApp channel for breaking news straight to your phone.

News from around the World

• Japanese man sentenced to death for 2019 arson attack at anime studio that killed 36: A court in Japan has sentenced to death a man convicted of murdering 36 people in an arson attack on an animation studio in 2019.

The Big Read

• Restaurant review: It’s not often you get food this good at this price in D4: This restaurant has delicious meals with the added bonus the food is good for your health.

The best from Opinion

• Finn McRedmond: Rise of the ‘trad wife’: Some women are sick of Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In manifesto
• Deirdre Ahern: Dave Fanning’s AI defamation case is at a new frontier of litigation
• Newton Emerson: Is ‘British-only’ direct rule really direct rule if it needs consent from Ireland?

Today's Business

• New broadcasting and online regulator has not had an auspicious start: Coimisiún na Meán, the new incarnation of the former Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), is approaching its first year in operation as regulator for broadcasting and online media.

Top Sports news

• Sports Illustrated gets the cold shoulder from a new generation: A decade has passed since talk turned in my college freshman class to how students might improve their own writing by reading more. I suggested they pick up magazines in the Penn Station newsagents when catching the train out from the city to the campus and threw out recommendations like Rolling Stone, Time and The Source. They stared back at me. Genuinely perplexed. Almost intrigued. The idea of paying several dollars for a thick mound of coloured paper on any subject was completely alien to these 18- and 19-year-olds. They had never imagined anything so preposterous. I might as well have asked them to take notes with ink and quill rather than MacBook.

Martyn Turner

Culture Highlights

• Johnny Vegas: Carry on Glamping review – Jokes about big choppers aside, it’s silly, enjoyable fun with a hint of Alan Partridge: British comedian Johnny Vegas has a dream – one involving tents, busses and languid lie-ins in imaginatively refurbished helicopters. He wants to create a luxurious glamping site where campers can cuddle up and watch the stars from inside an old coach imported from Malta and a Sea King chopper rescued from the scrap heap.

Podcast Highlights

• In the News: Alec Baldwin faces new indictment in movie-set death

Why not try one of our Crosswords & Puzzles?

• Simplex Crossword
• Crosaire Crossword
• Sudoku Puzzle

Like this?

Get the best content direct to your inbox by signing up to one of our newsletters