‘Corporate governance 101’ – PAC calls for RTÉ to publish salaries of staff earning more than €150,000 in annual statements

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday launched 21 recommendations after investigating a series of controversies that engulfed the national broadcaster last year.

Committee members described some of the recommendations as “common sense”, “basic” and “corporate governance 101”.

It has called for RTÉ to publish the salaries of staff earning more than €150,000 in its annual statements, and also those earning more than that sum upon their departure.

The committee recommended that future severance agreements do not contain any confidentiality clauses and they ensure that departing employees must co-operate with internal and external inquiries.

Other recommendations include introducing a written policy in relation to negotiations with presenters and their representatives, ensuring no “side deals” are undertaken with employees or contractors, and developing a policy on promotional work undertaken by staff.

The report states the “possibility” of figures relating to Ryan Tubridy’s salary being “deliberately misrepresented by RTÉ” cannot be discounted.

The note of former director general Dee Forbes that underwrote the €75,000 Renault ‘side’ payments for Tubridy “suggests an attempt to circumvent normal regulations and procedures on the part of RTÉ and to conceal the purported underwriting of the contract and payments to Mr Tubridy”, the PAC report states.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has already said that placing RTÉ under the C&AG would be “a good idea”, adding that he hopes the Government will make a decision on that in the “next few weeks”.

The committee was tasked with examining the understatement of RTÉ’s highest-paid presenter Tubridy’s earnings, the national broadcaster’s use of barter accounts, executive pay and allowances, lack of oversight for the ill-fated Toy Show The Musical – which accrued multimillion-euro losses – and other financial matters, including loss of TV licence revenue.

The report was released as a new chair and two replacement RTÉ board members were approved by the Cabinet.

ESB board chair and former KPMG managing partner Terence O’Rourke has been appointed as the new RTÉ board chairman.

Businesswoman Terri Maloney, a current Enterprise Ireland board member, and Neasa Hardiman, a Bafta-winning executive producer, director and writer, have been appointed to the board.

At the launch of the recommendations, PAC chairman Brian Stanley heavily criticised the national broadcaster. Mr Stanley said there were “common threads” of poor governance and a “general lack of transparency and accountability” to the board and minister.

“The committee believes that decisions taken by RTÉ demonstrate a lack of rigorous financial controls, poor communication, little transparency and amount to a failure of governance which combined have damaged public trust in an organisation for which trust should be paramount,” he said.

Mr Stanley also said the RTÉ board should have been more “vigilant, assertive and inquiring”.

The committee also recommended that all invoices issued by RTÉ be “clearly and accurately labelled”.