Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 29 June 2023

Public Accounts Committee

Appropriation and Expenditure of Public Moneys by RTÉ: Discussion

9:30 am

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have a few more requests and then three questions. First, "Toy Show - The Musical" has cost a fortune and been an unmitigated disaster. Can we get the figures behind how much it has cost? Obviously, the show will not see the light of day again.

The second issue relates to the legal advice I spoke about earlier. I am not legally qualified but one member of the committee is. I have also had at least ten people email me and send me messages on WhatsApp. It is actually not Ms Ní Raghallaigh's decision. It is the decision of the board and the chairperson. I ask her to reflect given that there are hundreds of thousands of people watching this. That note is central. I believe Ms Ní Raghallaigh should waive privilege and give it to us as a committee.

I have received so many emails, text messages and WhatsApp messages. It is amazing the number of people who are asking about cars - this is going back years - and other corporate deals. Can Ms Ní Raghallaigh write to staff asking whether any side deals have been made with people who are being contracted in, regardless of whether they have an agent, and whether they are getting any corporate hospitality, cars or anything else and bring that information forward?

Unless everyone out there is wrong, people are saying there is a lot of this going on. The committee would also like the minutes of all of the executive board meetings for the past five years. It is obvious that we need to meet the head of content. He seems to be a critical component in all of this. Did Mr. O'Reilly say the barter account was in place when he joined in 2012 or 2014? I do not want to get it wrong.

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