Valuation of RTÉ lands in Montrose underway – RTÉ DG Kevin BakhurstEverything was under consideration, including moving more production and staff out of DublinTV licence fee needs to be reformed – Ní RaghallaighBakhurst said it was shocking RTE had a membership of “an expensive private club like that in London” when asked about Soho HouseRTÉ DG earlier announcement recruitment freeze at broadcaster
However, Mr Bakhurst has acknowledged the former Late Late Show host is currently without “a source of income” following a breakdown in negotiations for his return to radio.
He said RTÉ have no legal mechanism to recoup the money.
Mr Bakhurst is among a number of RTÉ bosses being grilled by politicians at the Oireachtas media committee this afternoon in relation to the RTÉ payment scandal that broke in June.
The new RTÉ chief said partial or full sale of RTÉ lands is on the table as the broadcaster seeks to solve a financial crisis.
Mr Bakhurst said a funding request for €34.5 million had been lodged in order to give RTE time to see where to make further cuts next year.
It comes on the back of an anticipated shortfall of €21m in TV licence fee payments by the end of the year.
The current licence fee system is ‘obsolete and redundant’ the RTÉ chairperson has said as she admitted the national broadcaster is fighting for its future.
In her opening statement to the commitee Siún Ní Raghallaigh said “choices must be made for interim funding of RTÉ “and the long awaited licence fee reform”.
“The current system is a legacy of a different era, obsolete, redundant, antiquated”.
Ms NÍ Raghallaigh said RTÉ’s “secure future is not guaranteed”.
Board members and Executive board of RTE arrive to discuss expenditure of public funds
It comes as RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst said selling the broadcaster’s lands at Montrose, partially or in full is an option on the table.
Mr Bakhurst also said there “could well be” employees receiving car allowances that don’t have a driving licence.
On the car allowance, Mr Bakhurst said neither a car nor a driving licence was required of beneficiaries. It should be called a management allowance, he said. “The practice has been built up over 40 years,” he said. A total of 61 are in receipt of this allowance, but Mr Bakhurst said it was stated in his own contract that the car allowance “need not be spent on a car.”
He also said there were “too many allowances at RTÉ”.
Mr Bakhurst said he agreed 100pc that public trust would not be regained unless waste was rooted out.
RTÉ cost cutting
Earlier today, RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst announced a recruitment freeze at the national broadcaster this morning.
In an email sent to staff, Mr Bakhurst said the recruitment freeze will begin with “immediate effect”.
Fine Gael Senator Micheál Carrigy suggested RTÉ would be looking for €50 million from the taxpayer, but said other media outlets were able to put out content without public cost or a licence fee. He said RTE had advertised €240,000 for someone to take photographs on a soap opera set for three years, which was “ridiculous”.
Mr Bakhurst said he couldn’t believe the photography contract was for the work contained in a one-line description, and he said he had asked for more details about it and would revert to the committee.
Mr Bakhurst said RTÉ would be cutting costs on the RTÉ Player as well as on outside broadcasts. “There are limited levers I can pull, but I am pulling every lever I can to conserve cash.”
He later added that RTÉ had “limited room for manoeuvre” given most of its budget goes on fixed staff costs of more than €170 million.
Mr Dillon asked how RTÉ justified expenses, such as the trip to the Champions League final in 2019. He asked if there was any internal investigation into purchases that contradicted RTÉ’s ethos. Mr Bakhurst said there was no internal investigation, but some of the people involved had since left the organisation.
Eimear Cusack, head of RTÉ Human Resources, said there were “a myriad of allowances” within RTÉ (amounting to €4 million) and all would have to be reviewed.
“We have 1,100 employees who receive allowances. Some receive more than one allowance, depending on their activity. We have 13 annual leave plans — in this day and age, there should be a level playing pitch,” she said.
Mr Bakhurst said many of the people who received allowances were at the lower level in RTÉ.
Sale of lands
Selling Montrose was an option on the table, from full to partial sale of the site, he said. A valuation process is underway at the moment. “A number of buildings have been listed on the site,” he said, which would impact on value. They were about five, along with the mast.
“Overall land values have gone down since we sold that site a few years ago,” he said, which Senator Carrigy disputed.
Ciarán Cannon TD suggested RTE was sitting on “possibly the most valuable land back in the country,” and said the DG and Chair needed to consider how the “half a billion euro” it could raise would be used to address current problems. He suggested RTE could be located in Galway, or other places around the country, and asked if any consideration had been given to why it was assumed RTE had to be based in Dublin. The station could instead by co-located with TG4 in the Gaeltacht, he said. The symbolism of RTR “moving lock, stock and barrel” out of the capital could be very powerful.
Mr Bakhurst said everything was under consideration, including moving more production and staff out of Dublin. “We are trying to leverage everything we can.” Regionalisation was part of the plan RTE was hoping to unveil in October.
Soho House, London
Sinn Féin TD, Imelda Munster said the committee had been “blatantly misled” by a former witness that Soho House in London was used for meetings because RTE studios in the British capital had been closed. But documents furnished to the committee showed no business meetings had been carried out.
“We can assume that the former commercial director and a colleague used it for accommodation purposes,” Ms Munster alleged, adding that it was “shocking” that the real purpose had not been disclosed at committee.
Mr Bakhurst said it was shocking in the first place that RTE had a membership of “an expensive private club like that in London.” He said he had read the documents himself and seen the same information (proving no business meetings) as the Deputy.
Top 100 salaries
A number of individuals objected to RTE’s top 100 salaries being published, Kevin Bakhurst told the committee.
“We are talking a handful (of individuals),” said RTE head of legal, Paula Mullooly. The legal advice contained was that disclosure would have to be freely consented to by the individual concerned.
No update on the status of the promised publication of the top 100 salaries was given.
Mr Bakhurst meanwhile said Ryan Tubridy had agreed to his €170,000 salary being put in the public domain, if he had gone back to RTE radio. Contract negotiations ultimately failed however.
Ms Mullooly said the top 100 salaries were being provided on an anonymous basis, as there wasn’t a public interest basis for including the names, against other personal protections such as GDPR.
Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon said there was a public demand for transparency, but RTE Human Resources director Eimear Cusack said there were other considerations. She acknowledged not all the top 100 had been consulted on the decision to anonymise the salaries.
Mr Mullooly said to put 100 names into the public domain at a time when RTE personnel were being vilified “would be wrong in my view.”
RTÉ staff concerns
Shane Cassells TD said staff were worried about the newly-announced recruitment freeze, with Emma O’Kelly, a senior RTE journalist, saying ordinary staff were once again bearing the brunt alone. He asked if she was right. Mr Bakhurst replied: “If I have anything to do with it, she won’t be right.”
He said he did not want to be looking down the barrel of the gun of compulsory redundancies. It would be the final resort. He said the staff had carried the reputation of the station on their shoulders. “They have carried on working through this when it has been extremely difficult.”
But he added: “I am afraid they are all taking some of the pain at moment.” Part of the future would be as a smaller organisation, and the recruitment freeze would contribute that.
He said he was “trying to deal with top salaries” and these would be reviewed as contracts came up for renewal.
Ryan Tubridy’s €150,000 payment
Mr Bakhurst said there was no plan in place to recoup there €150,000 paid to Ryan Tubridy by RTÉ for Renault events that didn’t take place.
He said there was no legal mechanism to get it back,
“We have no legal tools to pursue him. I think there’s a moral case to pay it back, but I also understand that as a result of where negotiations went Ryan doesn’t have a source of income at the moment,” he said.
He added that there has been legal correspondence between Mr Tubridy and RTÉ in relation to the ending of the contract, but he could not comment further.
Mr Bakhurst also reiterated that he would not be negotiating with Mr Tubridy’s agent Noel Kelly in relation to other RTÉ stars, but said they were free to choose who they like as their agent.
Executive pay rises
Mr Bakhurst was then quizzed on the pay increase for RTÉ executives which was revealed in the RTÉ annual report last week.
Executives volunteered to take a 10pc cut for two years, Mr Bakhurst told TDs, but he couldn’t understand why the Media minister Catherine Martin was not informed when there was a rise for the management personnel last year. It was critical that he had a talented team around him when addressing the task ahead, and RTE was “not that competitive” on salaries, he said.
Ms Munster said last year’s 10pc pay increase for the executive board had been “insult on top of injury.” It had not once been mentioned at multiple Oireachtas committee hearings during the summer, she said. It was a failure of an opportunity to help regain the trust of the public.
Former DG Dee Forbes had received €10,000 which she was “hardly waiting for.”
Mr Bakhurst said he did not understand why the pay rise was not conveyed to Ms Martin’s Department. “I am sickened myself,” he said. “That sort of thing will not happen again.”
Mr Bakhurst earlier told staff that all “discretionary spending” will be stopped in light of the collapsing licence fee revenue.
“Given the steep fall in the licence fee and the uncertainty over interim funding, it is the only responsible thing that we can do,” Mr Bakhurst told staff in the email on Wednesday.
It comes as licence fee sales dropped by €982,080 in the first week of September, according to latest figures, the worst drop in any week since the payments scandal engulfed RTÉ in June.
Mr Bakhurst said the recruitment freeze was being implemented to “preserve cash” while RTÉ waits for interim funding from the Government.
“I regret having to do this as it will impact on our coverage and on our investment in equipment and our digital plans.
“However, given the steep fall in the licence fee and the uncertainty over interim funding, it is the only responsible thing we can do.”
He said he “hopes” to gave clarity over funding “in the coming days and weeks”.
Bakhurst opening statement
The Ryan Tubridy “hidden payments” scandal has jeopardised the future of RTÉ, Mr Bakhurst says in an opening statement seen by the Irish Independent.
The new director general is before the committee alongside the entire RTÉ board as the scandal surrounding €345,000 worth of “hidden” payments to Mr Tubridy rumbles on.
Plans for “strategic reform” will be set out in October but they will be “undermined” if the Government doesn’t move to reform the TV licence, Mr Bakhurst continued.
“The TV licence system, its supporting legislation, and the associated collection methods are no longer fit to support the provision of public service media to the people of Ireland,” he adds in his opening remarks.
“The current crisis has made the problem even more acute, and jeopardises the future of public media, and RTÉ, and the viability of Ireland’s audio-visual sector.”
He adds that new reforms announced next month will be in place “by the end of the year”.
And scoping documents for a new register of interests as well as a register of external activities have been issued, as well as a new staff survey and a “staff consultation body” will be set up later in the month.
“We are managing finances carefully and working to cut costs in the face of declining revenue from TV licence.”
The leadership team and staff from across the broadcaster have been “working tirelessly” to provide documents to the Media, as well as Public Accounts Committees, to the Department of Media and New Era, to Mazars and to the two Expert Committees reviewing RTÉ, according to the new boss.
Ní Raghallaigh opening statement
Meanwhile, the “secure future” for the broadcaster is “by no means guaranteed”, according to chair of the RTÉ board Siún Ní Raghallaigh.
“This is currently an organisation under immense pressure across a number of fronts,” Ms NÍ Raghallaigh says in her opening statement.
“Critically, the erosion of that trust has helped create immediate financial pressures. This needs to be resolved as a matter of urgency and is a matter of immediate focus for the Board and the interim leadership team.
“A secure future for RTÉ means having purpose and direction and making choices and taking decisions.”
She said “hard decisions” will have to be made as part of the major overhaul of the broadcaster when Mr Bakhurst announces his plans next month.
“These decisions may not be popular with stakeholders and policy makers, including perhaps this Committee,” Ms Ní Raghallaigh will warn.
She also hits out at the TV licence, calling it “of a different era” and “obsolete, redundant, antiquated”.
More to follow…