Results 1,301-1,320 of 20,719 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) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: I thank the Chair for the clarification. We need more than apologies. I questioned Ms Doherty at the committee here about the discrimination against female employees being forced to leave at 65 years of age when contracts were being signed with male employees up until the age of 70. This has been going on and the rot has been in there for a long time. We have been told here today that...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: "Betrayed" is what I said.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: Thanks for that but, as I said, RTÉ appointed Deloitte, which gave a clean bill of health, despite the fact that the station was facing ruin. It was out of money and depending on a cash injection from the Government. I accept that the board are temporary appointments and I have sat on many voluntary boards, as I am sure many of my colleagues have. We spent two hours one night at a...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: But, surely, what else would they do? That is their job.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: I do not expect the firm to be given a bonus for that. Deloitte gave RTÉ a clean bill of health when it should not have, full stop. I am a small businessman, like I am sure are some people around here, and if we operated in this way we would not last weeks, never mind years. Our witnesses have mentioned €15 million of a kind of contingency fund to deal with the multiple tax...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: Mr. Bakhurst is missing my point. I or any of my companies cannot tell Revenue that we have put a fund aside there and we will wait to see. It does not happen for PRSI or PAYE workers who pay their taxes and for ordinary business people who have to do audited accounts, pony up, face the music and pay up. It is a saga.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: Companies are closed down every day. A businessman was on to me yesterday where Revenue just closed down all his accounts. Why does it not do that to RTÉ and why is it such a sacred cow that Revenue allows it to get-----

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: RTÉ thinks it is.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: Revenue is treating RTÉ as a sacred cow because it is allowing RTÉ that flexibility. RTÉ is talking about 600 or perhaps 400 cases where RTÉ does not know. Revenue closed down a company in my town yesterday, it froze all its bank accounts for a much lower sum of money than that. That is how Revenue deals with people. It is very aggressive but there is a special...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: There is nothing complicated about it for every citizen and every small business. Nothing. They have to pay their dues and their tax has to be collected. RTÉ had shoddy deals with private contractors and that has been going on for decades. Deloitte’s annual inspection of RTÉ’s books was mentioned by our witnesses and it includes an evaluation of internal controls...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: It has not been clarified. No. Has RTÉ reappointed Deloitte or is it looking at reappointing that firm? Ms O’Leary did not seem to be sure there.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: Why did RTÉ not do this before the firm was reappointed, after all of this mess?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: That is not an excuse.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: Through the Chair, it had not done its job.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: It did?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: A minute ago I was trying to tell Ms O’Leary what Deloitte reported in March 2022. It was not doing its job. Nobody was doing their job at senior executive level and nor were the audit people, nobody. They were asleep at the wheel. It was like a ship at sea that-----

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: That is not acceptable. With most voluntary boards that I have served on, the auditors would run a mile from it - they would put their hands up and say they are not co-operating, they have a reputation to keep and they will not have a situation where they are not told the full facts. It is a cosy cartel in there, with the auditors and with the senior officials. They probably can lie down...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: Then what is it?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: I could call it a lot worse now but I do not want to in the present company.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Mattie McGrath: An awful lot worse.