RTÉ chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh dramatically resigns but insists she did tell minister’s officials about exit package

Media Minister Catherine Martin accused the chair of failing to tell her she approved a golden handshake for an executive.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh resigned just before 1am on Friday morning, but insisted she had informed the minister’s officials of the payoff deal last October.

“Kevin Bakhurst brought the exit of Rory Coveney from RTÉ, announced on Sunday 9th July, to my attention, while the exit of Richard Collins was brought to and approved by the Remuneration Committee of the Board of RTÉ on October 9th 2023,” she said.

“I informed the Department about the process which led to Richard’s departure from RTÉ, on October 10th, the day after it was approved at the Remuneration Committee,” she added.

Ms Martin says she was twice misinformed about the RTÉ board approving the package for former chief financial officer Richard Collins.

But the RTÉ chair said she told the minister she was aware of the exit packages, but they had not come before the full Board.

“However, I neglected to recollect that Richard Collins’s exit package did go before the Remuneration Committee. This was not an intentional misrepresentation, and I subsequently contacted the Department to clarify the details and remind them that I had previously appraised them of the matter in October,” she said.

The minister had summoned the chair to a meeting on Friday morning.

“I am awaiting the meeting with Siún tomorrow,” she said.

But Ms Ní Raghallaigh resigned in a statement issued at 12:50am last night.

“I no longer have the confidence of the Minister in my role as Chair of the Board of RTÉ and that, as such, my position is no longer tenable,” she said

On Thursday evening, the minister refused to express confidence in the RTÉ chair. The minister had summoned the chair to a meeting on Friday morning before her resignation statement early on Friday morning.

Ms Martin said she was twice misinformed about the RTÉ board approving the package for former chief financial officer Richard Collins.

The minister wrote to the chair and “expressed my disappointment” at being told twice the board did not approve the package.

She says she was given misinformation on two occasions this week.

“I am deeply disappointed,” she said.

Ms Martin said it had been her understanding that the board had no role in two exit packages paid last year.

“I was assured by the chair that it was the case,” she said on RTÉ’s Primetime.

The minister said she checked twice this week on the board’s involvement.

“I again queried was there 100pc certainty,” she said.

The minister said she only learned this morning of the board’s involvement.

"(I found) out this morning that it was the incorrect information, that it was indeed approved by the remuneration committee in which the chair sits, and indeed chairs of that committee,” Ms Martin said.

“That is of concern because the Minister for Media must be in possession of the facts of the exact information, especially in a time of crisis and controversy like this.

“I would like to say though that Siún Ní Raghallaigh has done incredible work since she come on as chair, I think, especially since this crisis erupted.

“But I do feel I need to meet Siún to just talk through exactly how this arose. How could I be misinformed on these two occasions?

“It’s not satisfactory. I’ve always said that my direct line of communication in relation to RTÉ is through the chair of the board. So I am deeply disappointed with this.

“I’ve written to the chair this evening, and I’ve asked to meet her tomorrow to discuss this.”

The RTÉ chair previously kept the minister in the dark over a demand for former director general Dee Forbes being asked to resign when the Ryan Tubridy scandal emerged.

Last week, RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said there was a new process in place for the approval of exit packages. He contrasted that with previous arrangements, such as the €450,000 payment to former chief financial officer Breda O’Keeffe.

“I was not at RTÉ at this stage, but I have obviously heard discussions, read the documents and interrogated some of the answers.

I feel that neither the board nor the full executive were furnished with information they should have been. This is what I have tried to address now at RTÉ. These discussions were had in silos with a small group of people.

“The procedures were not followed. The board was not given the information it should have been on a standard basis, but especially when it specifically asked for pieces of information and was not given them. All I can say is my perception, from what I know now, is that whether it was deliberate, inadvertent or loosely run, this would not happen now. We have tightened up procedures. I would not stand for it. If the board asks for information from me now it gets it. I want to make that clear because it is only fair to the board members here,” he said.

Siún Ní Raghallaigh’s involvement in an exit package for an RTÉ executive is a “most serious and grave matter”, according to the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.

Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley said: “What’s happened here is that you have a situation again where the minister has been misinformed.

“If that’s the case, that means the Government has been misinformed, the public has been misinformed, the people who write the cheque have been misinformed.”

Asked if he had confidence in the chairwoman of the RTÉ board, he told Virgin Media’s Tonight programme: “If it turns out to be the case, I think Siun Ni Raghallaigh is in trouble here.”

Mr Stanley said there was a “credibility gap” he could not overlook.