Kevin Bakhurst defends RTÉ paying producers extra for Toy Show The Musical

The musical lost RTÉ €2.3m and the producers, Jane Murphy and Katherine Drohan, got tax relief for their work on the script.

The additional payments for extra work on the theatrical production were revealed by the Irish Independent last summer.

Ms Murphy and Ms Drohan, who both work full-time as directors/producers in RTÉ, conceived the idea for the ill-fated musical during lockdown. They worked as producers on The Late Late Show during Ryan Tubridy’s tenure and had worked on the Toy Show for several years.

Mr Bakhurst has defended the practice of the two producers being paid separately by another arm of RTÉ for working on the project.

“I am told in their spare time they were working on Toy Show The Musical and were paid separately for that, doing both,” he said on RTÉ’s SixOne News.

Mr Bakhurst said the two producers were “extremely talented”.

The producers were also granted artists' tax exemptions for their work on Toy Show The Musical.

Moya Doherty says RTÉ board did sign off on Toy Show the Musical, as redacted names released in report

Meanwhile, RTÉ won’t be revealing exit payments made to executives over recent years, citing legal reasons.

Mr Varadkar told the Dáil this week that he believes "that there should be a cap" on the value of exit packages which use public money.

And RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst says introducing caps on exit packages may make it difficult for the national broadcaster to let go of senior staff.

Mr Bakhurst said confidentiality agreements around exit packages would “ideally” become the exception in RTÉ and a cap is being considered.

RTÉ released updated legal advice in relation to the exit packages received by executive-level senior management after departing the broadcaster.

The broadcaster has written to former members of the executive, who departed the organisation since 2016, requesting their consent to waive their right to confidentiality.

The State broadcaster is also taking external advice with regard to future caps on severance pay and termination agreements, as well as options regarding confidentiality.

“In discussions with the minister, I said we would look at the use of confidentiality agreements. Ideally they would become very much the exception with the right framework around them,” Mr Bakhurst told RTÉ’s News At One.

"The same goes for a cap, but again there are ramifications for that. If you put a cap on exit payments and you are going through a period, which we’ll have to, of shrinking the organisation, you will end up unduly shrinking the organisation by losing junior colleagues because you can’t afford to pay off more senior people.”

Mr Bakhurst said the ramifications of addressing issues around exit packages in RTÉ are “very significant” and he is prepared to address them but it won’t be straightforward.

"It’s very difficult to exit people, to sack people, so therefore you often have to go through a legal process and confidentiality agreements. This is not just RTÉ,” he said.

Advice by legal firm Arthur Cox states that both employees and former employees have a legal right that their personal data relating to their employment is not made publicly available.

Kevin Bakhurst insists he won’t resign as cap on exit payments to be considered