Results 18,761-18,780 of 20,830 for speaker:Mattie McGrath

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: I am asking any board member who feels like answering whether they failed in their fiduciary duty. I am on boards; I recall one night spending two hours at a voluntary board meeting, trying to reconcile a €20 underspend in a voluntary transport company. That is the level of accountability there should be.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: Any board member who feels like it.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: Yes.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: It is a fiduciary responsibility that the board has.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: That is legal.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: A key legal and fiduciary responsibility of any board is negotiating the pay, terms and conditions of the company's highest earners. Only the board is in a position to do this job. Almost every board, but especially a publicly funded one, must have a remuneration committee. That committee most likely must meet several times per year. It must investigate and negotiate the pay levels. It...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: Sure, they were not. The RTÉ executive board's remuneration committee has defined terms of reference, and it failed completely to comply with them. This is why we are sitting around here today. How can you explain this gigantic failure? You were asleep at the wheel. You did not do your job, full stop. How you can maintain your positions is astonishing. We now know that between...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: There are plenty here to ask - the senior people in RTÉ on the executive board. Do not all look so stony-faced.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: I want to know if you will co-operate with a Garda inquiry. Nothing else will uncover the facts.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: Sorry?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: If any fraud was committed. What about your failure in your fiduciary duties, to which you are duty bound as board members? Is there anybody to check that up, or have you any moral duty to say, "Sorry, I didn't attend those meetings I should have", "Sorry, there were not the number of requested meetings"? That is there in your own governance. How do you explain that? I think we should...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: Thank you, but sure I cannot get answers for the ones I asked. Could I ask again? Would all of the board members welcome a Garda inquiry? Will you explain why you failed in your fiduciary duties, as set down in your own corporate governance, to do the required minimum number of meetings and why the chair absurdly failed to attend those meetings and be in control of what was going on?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: Would you welcome a Garda inquiry?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: No, the previous speaker, please. Would you welcome a Garda inquiry and co-operate with it?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: What else will we get? We are expected to hold you to account. Nobody in RTÉ is holding anybody to account except the junior staff on zero-hour contracts and the people who cannot get maternity leave and sick leave. This is outrageous. I am still calling and will be calling. What about yourselves? Ms Ní Raghallaigh was about to say something.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: Sorry, but that is your legal advice.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: You could get ten different forms of legal advice from ten different people. It is not legal. We want public accountability. This committee and the Committee of Public Accounts wants to try to uncover as best we can, but we are wasting our time. We have lists of people who were appointed at one of the scoping-----

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: Sorry, I am being respectful. I am respectful of the public and the licence payer.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: I have a final question. The Minister has appointed one person but she has not appointed all of them. This is going round in circles. I am asking, as I did at our first private meeting, that we have a Garda investigation into this, because I knew what was going to go on. These people have come in, and more will come in next week and more will come in the future. This will go on and the...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Mattie McGrath: Thank you.