Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 28 June 2023

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media

Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion

Ms Geraldine O'Leary:

I can take that. I am not sure if the Deputy was here earlier when we said that when we have airtime that we have not sold, we will take barter campaigns on occasion. It is a small part of our business. There were 56 campaigns in total in 2022. The mechanism by which those are paid for is 50% cash and 50% credits. This is standard in media companies in both Ireland and internationally. All of the credits are added up and taken account of, and then they are reconciled on a monthly basis. The Deputy asked whether the barter account has ever been used for anybody's personal gain. I can say that I signed off on the use of the barter account prior to the new appropriate structures that have come into place. It was always used for our clients and agencies, which is part of our business too. Whether it was an event or a presentation, it was always used for our clients and agencies. It has not been used for personal gain for anybody sitting here.

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