Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 22 June 2021

Public Accounts Committee

Business of Committee

9:30 am

Photo of Brian StanleyBrian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We will ask the clerk to issue that correspondence to the HSE and we will take the matter from there. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 621B is from Ms Vivienne Flood, head of public affairs, RTÉ, dated 28 May 2021, providing information requested by the committee arising from the Committee of Public Accounts meeting of 27 April 2021. At our meeting of 15 June we agreed to note and publish this correspondence. Regarding question No. 6, in which RTÉ was asked to clarify whether it intends to follow the BBC in publishing a register outlining the external events undertaken by its staff in journalism, the response states that this is managed internally and that fees are not published to preserve "confidentiality of contract". At our meeting of 15 June we decided to note and publish this correspondence. We also agreed to request RTÉ first of all to clarify whether it intends to bring any degree of transparency to non-RTÉ-related work undertaken by its staff to ensure public confidence in the impartiality of the State broadcaster; second, to notify the committee if and when Revenue determines if further payments are required in respect of the engagement of contractors; third, to notify the committee of the outcome of a related Department of Social Protection audit; and, fourth, to provide further information on legal costs and settlements. We reiterated our request that RTÉ conduct a comparative review of remuneration for certain roles at RTÉ and Raidió na Gaeltachta as well as our request that RTÉ inform the committee how much it has already had to pay to Revenue in respect of the engagement of contractors. That had to do with people being classified as contractors or self-employed when subsequently, after an investigation, they were deemed to be categorised more as employees. These matters will arise again when we receive further responses from RTÉ. Deputy Munster flagged this item.

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