RTÉ defends barter account spending amid claims of ‘Celtic Tiger’ excess

RTÉ has defended spending within its controversial barter account after it emerged that more than €1.5 million was spent on concerts, restaurants, flights and even flip-flops.

Copies of the Astus barter account, seen by The Irish Times, show transactions for exclusive clubs, top-range hotels, golf outings, music events and tens of thousands of euro on flights for sporting events. Ten-year IRFU tickets were listed as being worth €138,000.

There are details around a €5,000 barter on Havaiana flip flops for a summer party “for agencies and clients”. More than €2,000 was used for balloons for the summer party.

RTÉ's head of commercial, Geraldine O’Leary, said that across an 11-year period she was responsible for bringing in revenue worth €1.65 billion.

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“This is people selling to people; RTÉ has a very good track record of retaining clients. Client retention is really key. And over the period where I brought in €1.65 billion, we spent 0.1 per cent. So compared to any other media company, any other tech company, I think this stacks up,” she said at the Oireachtas Committee on Media.

Sinn Féin spokeswoman Imelda Munster TD said what had been revealed in recent times would “shame the most extravagant of Celtic Tiger excesses”.

A barter account is one linked to a system through which a media company uses its advertising space to pay for certain goods and services.

The transactions for 2022 show that more than €9,000 was used for entertaining at a Harry Styles gig, while entertainment was also provided at Westlife and Eagles concerts. Some €2,481 is recorded for hospitality for a Garth Brooks concert.

In 2019, €13,730 was spent on entertaining clients and agencies at an Ed Sheeran concert in Croke Park. A sum of €769 was spent at the Other Voices festival for two senior members of an agency. There was a transaction for nearly €13,000 for Bruce Springsteen tickets for an agency event with the head of sales. There was also €1,300 spent on 20 clients at an Amy Schumer concert. There are also two transactions for €2,308 and €7,668 for entertainment at a Spice Girls concert at Croke Park.

There is a membership worth €2,306 for the exclusive Soho House in London, a luxury, members-only club. This was to “facilitate UK meetings”.

There are a large number of transactions for 2019 and the years before 2019, but in the following years the number decreases significantly.

In sport, some €70,000 was recorded for flights for the Rugby World Cup in Japan with the head of sales and clients. The accounts also show €47,000 for hotels for the same trip for two senior staff and four clients. There is a €5,110 transaction for the Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh for clients and senior staff at the Ireland v Scotland Six Nations match.

In 2019, some €3,076 was spent on House of Fraser vouchers for “prizes as donations to agency and client events and gifts as appropriate to clients, weddings, babies, etc”.

There is a lack of information on some transactions.

In 2019, there is a transaction for €1,836 for the Havana Club with the description: “think to do with Summer Sales Party – maybe Gav can help”.

Then there are 36 tickets for European football finals worth €23,000 with the description: “Tickets European Football Finals x 36 tickets. Not sure though.”

There are a large number of transactions pre-2019 with no description at all on the document furnished to politicians.

These include: €1,198 at Dax restaurant in Dublin, €384 at the Unicorn Restaurant, €479 at the Winding Stair restaurant, €1,054 at FX Buckley, €710 at Forest Avenue, €1,891 at the 51 Bar, €2,339 at Bow Lane, €427 at Pearl Brasserie and €1,818 at Kiely’s.