Ireland

RTÉ executives spend over €175,000 on corporate credit cards

Records show visits to the Aviva Stadium bookended by restaurant and bar visits

The records reveal that former RTÉ director general Dee Forbes spent €14,890 on her credit card, including an estimated €5,900 on hospitality and hotels and more than €1,200 on flowers. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Jack Horgan-Jones
Fiachra Gallagher
Sat Apr 6 2024 - 06:00

RTÉ executives spent more than €175,000 on corporate credit cards, including an estimated €56,000 on hotels, restaurants, bars and events, during a five-year period.

Records released under the Freedom of Information Act show the most popular spots for RTÉ executives include Suesey Street in Dublin 2, where a 2019 off-site meeting of the RTÉ board cost almost €2,000; the Spitalfields gastropub; Italian eatery Osteria Lucio in Dublin’s Docklands; the Dean Street Townhouse in Soho, London; Madigan’s pub on Leeson Street in Dublin; and Dublin dining institutions such as Peploe’s on St Stephen’s Green and the Trocadero in Dublin 2.

South Dublin pubs, hotels and restaurants feature prominently, including the Shelbourne Hotel, Café En Seine, 37 Dawson Street and the Ivy.

The records reveal that former RTÉ director general Dee Forbes spent €14,890 on her credit card, including an estimated €5,900 on hospitality and hotels and more than €1,200 on flowers.

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Geraldine O’Leary, the former RTÉ commercial director who retired early amid the scandal over Ryan Tubridy’s payments, had the highest credit card bill overall, spending €74,322 across a four-year period, including an estimated €36,800 on hospitality and hotels. Ms O’Leary spent €871 on flowers, and €705 on baby gifts.

Records show visits to the Aviva Stadium were bookended by restaurant and bar visits. In February 2023, Ms O’Leary spent €313 in the Trocadero and the Aviva Stadium, followed by a €209 bill in a pizzeria. In March of the same year, a trip to the stadium was preceded by bills in 37 Dawson Street and Cinnamon Restaurant in Ballsbridge.

Ms O’Leary said budgets for client entertainment were set annually and approved in advance and the spend was in keeping with guidelines and approved by management. She said the amounts would be in line with her role as commercial director where stakeholder entertainment is standard. She said it should be viewed in the context of annual revenues of circa €150 million.

Jon Williams, the former head of news, spent €48,500 on his credit card, including significant amounts on foreign travel encompassing air fares, hotels and car hire. Mr Williams said the charges were in line with RTÉ protocols and commensurate with his role.

RTÉ said the expenses in question were approved in line with procedures at the time by Ms Forbes in respect of those who reported to her, or by the former chief financial officer for the director general’s expenses.

“Director general Kevin Bakhurst has introduced new measures. In line with the restriction on discretionary spend, it has been made clear that expenses need to be very carefully managed in all areas of the organisation and that only expenditure on items or events which are business-critical will be approved ... it is no longer possible to include the purchase of gifts (eg flowers, etc) as expenses.”

Much of the spending was on software packages, newspaper subscriptions or other business expenses.

The data covers spending by the above executives, as well as Jim Jennings, the head of content at RTÉ; Adrian Lynch, the broadcaster’s deputy director general; its former head of strategy Rory Coveney; and former head of legal Paula Mullooly.

Ms Mullooly and Mr Coveney were contacted for comment. A spokesman for Ms Forbes said: “Dee Forbes’s situation remain unchanged, and she is unable to respond to the queries outlined.”

Jack Horgan-Jones

Jack Horgan-Jones

Jack Horgan-Jones is a Political Correspondent with The Irish Times

Fiachra Gallagher

Fiachra Gallagher

Fiachra Gallagher is an Irish Times journalist

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