RTÉ board members have sought more information about the preferred candidate to take over as the broadcaster’s next director general after a “fraught” board meeting on Friday.
Questions have been raised at board level about the process leading to the selection of the preferred candidate by the interview panel, made up of board members who were appointed to pick a successor to Dee Forbes as the next director general.
The queries raised during a board meeting last Friday have delayed the appointment to the €306,000-a-year role to take charge of the national broadcaster.
The board meeting called at short notice on Friday to discuss the selection committee’s choice of Kevin Bakhurst, who was deputy director general and managing director of news and current affairs at RTÉ until 2016, was described as “pretty fraught” and “not pleasant”.
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Sources with knowledge of the discussions said that while Mr Bakhurst was seen as a safe pair of hands with strong broadcasting experience and good political connections from his previous roles at RTÉ, some board members pressed for a more transformational figure to lead the broadcaster through difficult financial times ahead.
Friday’s meeting was called after reports emerged that David McRedmond, chief executive at An Post and a former chief executive at TV3, now Virgin Media Television, had been interviewed but had not made it onto the shortlist for the director general job and that Mr Bakhurst was the preferred choice of the selection panel.
There was surprise that Mr McRedmond did not make it further in the selection process with senior RTÉ figures believing he was best-placed to tackle RTÉ’s challenges given his track record in managing parlous finances, digital change and trade unions at An Post.
Last week’s meeting involved a discussion about the candidate being nominated by the selection panel to the board. Only Mr Bakhurst’s name was mentioned at the meeting.
It is understood concerns were raised about the selection process followed.
It was suggested at the meeting that Mr Bakhurst be asked to make a presentation to the board in advance of any sign-off on his appointment but it is unclear if this has been agreed to.
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Sources stressed that only a small number of people questioned the appointment and dismissed a suggestion that the board was split over the matter.
Mr Bakhurst, who was acting director general before his departure in 2016, applied for the job previously that year but lost out to outsider Ms Forbes who was then managing director of Discovery Networks Northern Europe.
Since leaving RTÉ, Mr Bakhurst has been group director of broadcasting and online content at UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom. He has senior editorial experience, having been deputy head of the BBC newsroom, controller of the BBC News channel and editor of the BBC Ten O’Clock News before RTÉ.
Questions have also been raised about the focus of questions posed during the interview process for the RTÉ top job and the absence of deeper discussion around the longer-term plan for the broadcaster and its interaction with the Government.
The selection panel, made up of RTÉ board members, comprised RTÉ chairwoman Siún Ní Raghallaigh, a former chair of Irish language broadcaster TG4; business executive Anne O’Leary and Massachusetts Institute of Technology academic Jonathan Ruane.
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The appointment of the director general must be approved by the board and signed off by the Cabinet, which is not due to meet this week due to the visit of US president Joe Biden.
Various RTÉ board members would not comment or did not respond to requests for comment. Mr Bakhurst declined to comment and Mr McRedmond had no comment.
Sources within RTÉ expressed concern at the public leaks around the selection process and the questions raised at board level about filling the key seven-year executive role.
“We are looking on in horror,” said one source. “It’s a disaster.”
In a statement, RTÉ said it was “not appropriate” to comment on the process as it was ongoing.
