Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 4 November 2021

Public Accounts Committee

Business of Committee

9:30 am

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I wish to refer to the Department's letter. Even though I know that the Department can only supply an indicative timeline, I would like to know the following. Is the investigation going to be completed within a specific timeframe or when does the Department hopes to conclude it? With any finding, there is the possibility of an appeal. Therefore, I ask the Department to outlines any appeals mechanism so that we know where we are and can timetable meetings accordingly. It would be useful to have such information before the January meeting.

RTÉ has cited the GDPR. We do not seek specific details on individuals and, therefore, I see no reason we could not have a general response even if it is categorised by the class of employees. For example, people who are now employees but were formerly self-employed. I suggest that we ask RTÉ for general information as opposed to specific information on individuals.

Did I hear the Chairman say that no audit report was issued but that one has now been concluded according to the letter from Revenue? If there is a report, it would great if we could have it in redacted form. I understand now that there was an audit but no audit report. What did Revenue do? Did it write to RTÉ stating that the station owed €1.2 million without qualifying how the sum was arrived at? That seems a little bit strange.

If there is no report then there must be correspondence from Revenue to RTÉ and that is what we probably mean. It may not be described as a report but it is still correspondence. I urge people to not start playing with words in respect of this matter.

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