Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the witnesses for being here. Many people might be asking if we are going over old ground and if we do not know this already. I have said previously that the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media has a separate remit and function to us. We have a specific remit from the Dáil to draft a report, document what happened and make recommendations on procedures.

It is procedures that I want to focus on because either of two things happened. Either procedures were absent or they were overridden. Going forward with the operation of RTÉ, it is important that this is documented and recommendations are made, and that RTÉ responds to that. That is why the note of May 2020 is so crucial. RTÉ is relying on a defence that Dee Forbes alone was the person who knew all of the pieces of the picture. The evidence that RTÉ has given before the committee is that: the CFO knew of the tripartite agreement but not of the details; Ms O'Leary knew of the credit note but not that this formed part of salary negotiations; and Ms Mullooly said she did not know of the indemnity issue until 2021. The evidence reflects the argument that only one person knew all of these details and without that person coming here, it is quite difficult for us to put a report together. The note of that meeting should support RTÉ's argument that Dee Forbes was the only person who knew, or it would prove otherwise. The absence of that note is important from our perspective because it backs up RTÉ's case or it does not. The absence of providing that note appears to undermine RTÉ's assertion.

RTÉ has been forthcoming with documentation but this document goes to the credibility of the case of RTÉ that only one person had all of the pieces of information. Was the indemnity, which RTÉ has relied on as a key component, known much earlier? That is important for the committee to know. I ask RTÉ to reflect again on the reasons we want the document and on it RTÉ will not provide it. While there are other risks to RTÉ providing that document, including litigation risks and so on, there is also a risk to RTÉ's credibility and the credibility of the answers of its representatives before this committee. That is why we want it and I will not restate the case that other members have made.

I want to come back to procedures and so on. On the raising of credit notes, were there procedures at the time that approved the raising of credit notes and who was responsible for raising credit notes?