Taoiseach Leo Varadkar back on attack as RTÉ reveals Rory Coveney got €200,000 ‘golden handshake’ after Toy Show The Musical debacle

Mr Varadkar’s statement to the Sunday Independent comes as RTÉ staff raise fresh questions about the departures of two former news executives who unexpectedly also left recently.

The broadcaster’s journalists want details of the exit packages of Jon Williams, the former managing director of news and current affairs, and David Nally, former managing editor of current affairs.

Mr Nally was moved to a newly-created “editorial adviser” position in 2022 after a staff complaint against him was upheld, but he left last year to pursue a legal career at around the same time RTÉ announced it had parted company with its once highest-paid star, Ryan Tubridy.

Former CFO Breda O’Keeffe received €450,000 exit payment when leaving RTÉ, Kevin Bakhurst says at Oireachtas committee _duplicated

The latest questions follow the insistence of TDs at the Oireachtas media committee last week that details of pay-offs to two former executive board members, Rory Coveney and Richard Collins, be published by RTÉ.

In a statement yesterday, director general Kevin Bakhurst said he had agreed with Mr Coveney, the man behind the doomed musical, that it was best that he stand down from his role as director of strategy.

“This enabled the beginning of the restructuring of the leadership team and the suppression of his role,” Mr Bakhurst said.

Mr Coveney’s responsibility was passed to another executive, Adrian Lynch, with no additional compensation, on top of his role as director of audience, channels and marketing.

Mr Bakhurst said: “Rory’s role became redundant, an exit payment was offered by RTÉ and accepted by Rory, and with no backfill being made, RTÉ will recoup that payment by July of this year.”

As Mr Coveney resigned his position last July, yesterday’s RTÉ statement indicates the man responsible for Toy Story The Musical left with a year’s salary of around €200,000, a revelation that is likely to cause further anger among RTÉ staff, Oireachtas committee TDs and the wider public.

The musical made a €2.2m loss after a single season in 2022.

Mr Bakhurt also said yesterday that, following independent mediation, Richard Collins, RTÉ’s former chief financial officer, departed by mutual agreement, with a “binding confidentiality clause” agreed by both sides that could not be breached.

The director general is seeking further legal advice on this issue.

Earlier yesterday, Mr Varadkar told the Sunday Independent: “I think we need full information and clarity from RTÉ. The drip-feed of revelations is seriously damaging an important organisation that has a pivotal role in our democracy and national cultural identity.

“We need to know how these redundancies or retirement lump sums were calculated, if they were in keeping with the rules and if the redundancies were real; that is, posts suppressed within the organisation to pay for it all.”

In his statement yesterday, Mr Bakhurst further disclosed that the executive board member behind RTÉ’s infamous barter accounts, Geraldine O’Leary, retired from the station and her role as director of commercial and did not receive an exit payment.

He also said that Paula Mullooly decided to leave RTÉ, and her role as director of legal affairs, to pursue another opportunity and did not receive an exit payment.

Earlier yesterday, a senior RTÉ editorial source said: “The impression we got for the last few months was that Mr Bakhurst is the ‘new sheriff’ in town, that he has been making tough decisions.

“If it turns out that he has just been signing off on big exit packages for people, questions will be asked.

“We also got the impression people like Rory Coveney were stepping down because they were owning their mistakes and taking responsibility for what happened. Is it now the case they were all walking away with big pay-offs? People are wondering what’s really changed?

“The mood in here is just despair, utter despair at the drip-feed of information. The impression over the last few months has been that Kevin Bakhurst is the new regime and part of a culture change. We are hoping that is still the case.”

Mr Coveney and Mr Collins, who memorably could not immediately recall his €200,000 salary at an Oireachtas hearing last summer, resigned not long after attending Media and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearings last year and shortly after Mr Bakhurst became director general.

It also emerged last week that a €450,000 exit package was given to former chief financial officer Breda O’Keeffe, who disclosed to the PAC that she had availed of a redundancy scheme at RTÉ.

However, her role was subsequently not suppressed at the station, as per the terms of the deal.

In fact, it has emerged that RTÉ paid out €2.6m in golden handshakes to executives during former director general Dee Forbes’s reign. The broadcaster’s accounts reveal the significant payments across six years to “key management personnel” receiving “termination benefits”.

It was also at Oireachtas committee hearings that the public’s attention was drawn to RTÉ’s use of barter accounts to make hidden payments amounting to €150,000 to Ryan Tubridy.

It was subsequently revealed that between €1m and €1.25m was spent on “client entertainment” in 10 years, including a trip to the Rugby World Cup in 2019, Champions League final tickets and 10-year tickets from the IRFU.

Public anger was heightened when it emerged that, in addition to travel and accommodation for clients, the broadcaster had spent €5,000 on 200 pairs of flip-flops for a summer party for corporate clients in 2016 and €21,000 on an agency and client summer party at the Teeling Distillery in Dublin.

Mr Varadkar said: “It’s clear that in RTÉ there was a culture of poor corporate governance when it came to making decisions, a culture of arrogance among senior staff and a wide culture of entitlement in believing that the licence fee income was RTÉ’s money, not something that has to be earned or competed for.”

In RTÉ’s 2019 annual report, termination payments of €600,000 are recorded; in 2021 it was zero; and in 2022 it was €300,000.

In July 2022, Mr Williams caused significant surprise when he stood down, citing reassessed priorities after the Covid pandemic. Details of his exit package were never revealed.

Then last July, Mr Nally, who was on a salary of €150,000, announced his intention to retire from the role of “editorial adviser”, a post that was not advertised before he was moved sideways from his previous position.

As former head of TV current affairs, he was the subject of an upheld complaint by Prime Time presenter Fran McNulty.

In late 2021, RTÉ hired workplace relations consultants Resolve Ireland to audit “the culture and working relationships” in the current affairs unit.

The internal audit interviewed staff about their views on the standards of dignity and respect, problem resolution, teamwork and communications in the unit.

The report contains comments from staff on the communication styles and “people management skills” of identifiable managers in RTÉ.

Yesterday, neither Mr Williams nor Mr Nally responded to requests for comment.