Kevin Bakhurst did not get exit deal in 2016, RTÉ says

RTÉ said director general Kevin Bakhurst did not receive a severance deal when he left in 2016, as the station was pressed to reveal the beneficiaries of termination payments.

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said RTÉ should provide “complete accountability and transparency” on exit deals to former executives, saying confidence cannot be regained without it.

“It’s key that RTÉ rebuild trust with the public,” she said ahead of her first party conference as leader this weekend.

With no end to RTÉ turmoil in sight, new data shows TV licence sales down €21.2 million since controversy erupted last summer.

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Citing legal constraints, RTÉ has declined to say who else among its former senior managers received money when they left.

The clamour for answers is set to intensify as the Dáil Public Accounts Committee prepares for another round of questioning with station chiefs.

[ RTÉ media committee hearing: Former chief financial officer Breda O’Keeffe was paid €450,000 to leave, Bakhurst says ]

[ Rory Coveney steps down from role to make way for ‘fresh lead team’ in RTÉ ]

A Thursday hearing of the Oireachtas media committee stirred yet more disquiet about RTÉ's culture when Mr Bakhurst said former chief financial officer Breda O’Keeffe received €450,000 when leaving in 2020.

Ms O’Keeffe did not reply to phone calls and a text message seeking her response to a claim by Minister for Media Catherine Martin that she is under “moral obligation” to repay the money.

There was also no reply from former RTÉ director of strategy Rory Coveney to phone calls and a text message seeking comment on his summer departure, when he too received a severance payment. The amount remains unclear.

Mr Bakhurst took the helm in July, returning to the station he left in 2016 after serving as head of news, deputy director general and acting director general. Asked whether he received a severance payment eight years ago, RTÉ said “no.”

Still, RTÉ would not identify exit-deal beneficiaries. Asked whether former head of news Jon Williams received severance money when he left in 2022, RTÉ said it was “not in a position to comment further on individuals for legal reasons”.

Contacted on Friday, Mr Williams said: “I’ve made no comment about RTÉ since I left and do not intend to do so.” He did not reply to a text message asking whether he received a severance payment.

Asked about another former executive, RTÉ said it was “not in a position to comment further on the case referred or other individual cases for legal reasons”.

The lack of answers annoyed RTÉ unions. Emma O’Kelly, chair of the Dublin broadcasting branch of the National Union of Journalists, said “we want all of that published” in reference to Mr Coveney’s payment.

[ RTÉ before the Oireachtas: More insights into bad governance, arrogant culture and inadequate safeguards ]

[ RTÉ pay crisis: Bakhurst to seek fresh legal advice on disclosure of exit packages ]

“We don’t see why any of this information should be kept private or why any deal that contained a confidentiality clause should have been agreed with anyone in the first place,” she said.

Siptu organiser Martin Mannion hit out at RTÉ managers who said the station had no money to increase pay “but they could give their chief financial officer €450,000”.

New data shows some 3,900 fewer weekly TV licence sales on average between June and February than in the previous comparable period.

But there are some signs of a recovery in sales, with the rate of non-payment slowing since November. In the last week of January, non-direct debit sales rose by 2,538 over the same week in 2023.

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