RTÉ pay controversy: Dáil committee may seek extra powers to grill station executives

Members of two Dáil committees have urged former RTÉ director general Dee Forbes to come before them this week despite her resignation on Monday, with the influential Public Accounts Committee (PAC) set to seek extra powers for its interrogation of executives at the broadcaster.

The PAC met on Monday afternoon and agreed to invite a wide range of executives and board members, including Ms Forbes, incoming director general Kevin Bakhurst, and former station chief Noel Curran.

The committee will also seek to hear from the RTÉ head of commercial, Geraldine O’Leary, its chief financial officer Richard Collins, and its head of legal Paula Mullooly as well as any board members who have been serving since 2017.

Mr O’Leary, Ms Forbes and Mr Collins are also among seven RTÉ figures who have been invited to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht, alongside Rory Coveney, its director of strategy, and Adrian Lynch, who has taken over the functions of Ms Forbes since her suspension from her post last Wednesday. Mr Lynch was formerly director of audience, channels and marketing.

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In an email to RTÉ, the media committee said it wanted to examine the procedures “that led to the underreporting of these payments and how such payments were overlooked or justified”. It also wants to discuss the RTÉ procedures that permit such arrangements, as well as details regarding which individuals knew about or authorised them.

PAC members also indicated they would invite the secretary general of the Department of Arts, Katherine Licken.

It is not yet clear who precisely will be attending out of those invited. A spokeswoman for RTÉ said: “Notification of invitations to both committees have been received. RTÉ will be attending. We will share further details as soon as it’s possible.”

The PAC is also examining an Oireachtas mechanism which would enhance the scope of its powers. The committee usually confines itself to organisations which are examined by the Comptroller and Auditor General. However, under Dáil standing orders, that remit can be extended to allow it to report on matters of general public interest relating to public moneys in bodies like RTÉ not covered by the C&AG.

Such a move would need approval by another Dáil committee and the approval of the house. There were differing views among members on Monday afternoon as to whether that could be put in place by Thursday, but it is expected that this week’s session would proceed in any event.

There are doubts over whether Ms Forbes, who issued a lengthy statement on Monday including criticism of how she had been treated by the board, will appear. However, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that she should, as did Tánaiste Micheál Martin, a position mirrored by committee members on Monday afternoon.

Fianna Fáil senator Macolm Byrne, a member of the media committee, said he believed that if she did not attend “her reputation will be hugely damaged and it will represent an insult to licence fee payers and to the staff in RTÉ”. His party colleague, Dún Laoghaire TD Cormac Devlin said he hoped Ms Forbes would use the opportunity to address what he said was “palpable public disquiery about this controversy”. He said there was a “real danger if it continues unabated it will be very damaging to RTÉ's standing within Irish society”.

James O’Connor, the Cork East TD and PAC member said Ms Forbes would “do herself and RTÉ a great deal of service by accepting the invitation to appear before the PAC”.

It is understood the PAC considered bringing Mr Tubridy and his agent, Noel Kelly, before it but has decided against an initial invite, although it remains a live possibility. The possibility of compelling witnesses was also discussed, with members anxious to ensure they were “on solid ground” to do so if they felt they needed to, including if a person was no longer in their position.

Brendan Griffin, the Fine Gael TD for Kerry and a media committee member, said he expected “full transparency” from the broadcaster.

“The committee meetings this week are a massive opportunity for RTÉ to come clean and lay everything on the table, and to let us know everything – if there’s historic events that need to be revealed, now’s the chance, and now’s the time. I would consider any failure of them to do that would be a very serious matter.”