Results 281-300 of 2,569 for speaker:Peter Fitzpatrick

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: I want to first welcome all of our witnesses here today. What a mess. This matter is the topic of every conversation. All I am hoping is that over the next few weeks it will be put to bed but that will not happen unless we all put our hands up and start telling the truth because week-in and week-out more information is coming out where everybody is being blamed. It is about time we all...

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: But Ryan Tubridy's salary went up to over €500,000 again. It has been said that Ms O’Keeffe played a central role in the Ryan Tubridy contract, and she admitted this earlier on where she was involved in the negotiations straight away. Did that include the guaranteed €75,000 in commercial income and can Ms O’Keeffe elaborate on her involvement in that?

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: Ms O’Keeffe is stating that she knew nothing about the guarantees for Ryan Tubridy.

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: I promise I am not trying to put words in Ms O’Keefe’s mouth but I will ask the question again. Was Ms O’Keeffe aware of the €75,000 for Ryan Tubridy?

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: It does not matter which one. Was she aware of the sum of money?

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: Okay.

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: The committee heard evidence as to how the payments were presented as a consultancy fee on the invoices to RTÉ through a UK barter account. To me, that is an act of deceit.

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: When these invoices were coming in for the money, and this is a separate question, did Ms O'Keeffe see them?

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: She did not see those invoices coming in. That is okay. I will leave Ms O’Keeffe alone now on that point. Has Ms O’Keeffe any update on the €120,000 which was outstanding to Ryan Tubridy as she stated that she had left RTÉ at that stage? As far as Ms O’Keeffe is concerned then, when she left, that €120,000 was still there for Ryan Tubridy. Is that...

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: The one good thing I will say today is that Ms O’Keeffe came in today and answered the questions. That is all we asked for. We asked other people to come in and they refused to do so. One of the Deputies asked earlier about the three barter accounts and Mr. Collins started talking about shopping, etc. My wife does not go to three shops in one day. Does Mr. Collins's wife go to...

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: Sorry, did Mr. Collins exaggerate the truth then?

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: When Mr. Collins was asked the question last week about the barter account, he knew there were three accounts. Why did Mr. Collins not just say there were three accounts because he knew it would come back to haunt him? This is a very experienced committee. Why did Mr. Collins not just come out and say that there is one barter account but there are three parts to the barter account?

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: As a layperson, it seems to me - and the public are there - that Mr. Collins is hiding it. I am being honest with Mr. Collins. The answer that Mr. Collins gave my colleagues here today, and talking about his wife or someone going shopping, was very bad. I am not trying to be funny. This is a very serious situation.

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: Has Mr. Collins any-----

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: Sorry, I will go back to this again. Have previous auditors, before Grant Thornton, brought to light anything disguised previously? Was there anything that came up before the Ryan Tubridy one? Basically, I am asking is there anything out there that we should know that will come forward? They got auditors to sign off. What were the auditors looking to sign off?

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: They did audits, right?

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: I am sure there were audits done before the Ryan Tubridy issue.

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: I am not trying to be smart. It was easy enough to find. How come the previous auditors could not find the discrepancies? I cannot understand that. Who signed them off? If an auditor comes to Mr. Collins and signs them off, who in RTÉ would sign off and accept the sign-offs?

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: But someone goes to the board and recommends them to the board on behalf of RTÉ. Is that Mr. Collins's good self? Does Mr. Collins look at the audit? After the audits are done, who looks at the audits? I have my own company. I get people in to do the audits. I am sure that someone in RTÉ signs the audits off and recommends them to the management to accept.

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

Peter Fitzpatrick: There is something wrong here. In fairness, we keep teasing. Let us hope over the next few weeks that it comes out. Did someone in RTÉ, after five years, hand a car in yesterday? Who was that?