Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 13 July 2023

Public Accounts Committee

Appropriation and Expenditure of Public Moneys by RTÉ (Resumed): RTÉ

9:30 am

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

In relation to Mr. Lynch's statement of clarification, are we not dancing on the head of a pin here?

I want you to clarify this for me briefly. Mr. Kelly, in his email to RTÉ on 16 January 2020, wrote: "Lovely to see you all yesterday evening. I thought it was a very productive meeting..." The email from Breda O'Keeffe on 20 February 2020 reads: "We can agree to a fee of €435,000 per contract year for 38 Late Late Shows and 205 radio shows, with a sign off fee of €75,000 at the end of the 5 year contract in a side letter agreement." The email continues: "As discussed the fee for the commercial agreement would be €75,000 per contract year to cover three Late Late Show host style appearances (one Dublin and two outside of Dublin) we would also need a side letter agreement from RTÉ to guarantee and underwrite this fee for the duration of this contract and beyond into the next contract." Legally speaking, I know what you are saying, but in that email Breda O'Keeffe states clearly: "Thank you for your prompt follow up from Tuesday's meeting. We thought the meeting was very helpful and we note your updated position below which we have discussed internally and the response below is our final position." She signs off the email herself. I am not going to take up time reading the rest of the email. Are we not dancing on the head of a pin here?

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