Results 1,641-1,660 of 15,510 for speaker:Brendan Griffin

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (20 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: 1091. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will consider including provision for local history projects in one of her Department's funding streams; if she sees the value of such projects for communities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39726/23]

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: I ask Ms O'Leary, as chair of the audit and risk committee, how many qualified accountants, apart from herself, have been on the audit and risk committee while she has been there.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: On the audit and risk committee.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: That is pretty extraordinary. Ms O'Leary, two journalists and a lawyer-mediator sit on the committee.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: Corporate governance codes require that an audit committee include at least one independent director with an accountancy or auditing background. Why was this requirement ignored? I was just looking around and the DAA, for example, has a committee of four, three of whom have accountancy expertise. Two members of the board of An Post have accountancy expertise, but RTÉ has nobody with...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: It is important for the committee that these facts are out there because this is ultimately an accounting and finance problem. This is the audit and risk committee and there is no accounting or auditing expertise on it. Apart from Ms Ní Raghallaigh, who has recently come in, and I am looking at pre-2022 when all of the damage was done, was there anyone on the RTÉ board with...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: Has there been no one with accountancy expertise on the committee since Shane Naughton left?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: Is Mr. Kehoe saying to me now that there was nobody-----

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: Is he saying that, apart from the chair, who is recently appointed, there was nobody at all?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: How many meetings of the remuneration committee were held in 2018?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: It was one. How many meetings were held in 2019?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: There was one.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: How many meetings were held in 2020?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: It was zero. How many were held in 2021?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: How many were held in 2022?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: None. RTÉ's own rules stated there should be a minimum of two meetings per annum.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: I ask the entire board whether anyone raised the issue that no meetings of the remuneration committee were taking place. By the way, this is a remuneration issue. All of this exploded. It is going to cost the organisation €50 million because of massive failings relating to remuneration. The board needs to start owning this. I have heard of plenty of scapegoats and people thrown...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: Did Ms Mullooly ever point that out to the board?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: I have copies of the minutes of two meetings between 2017 and June 2023. That is all we have in terms of documentation relating to the remuneration committee. I reiterate that this whole thing blew up from a remuneration issue. Both meetings seem to have been about pay for senior executives and the car allowance as well. That seems to have been all that was discussed.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: RTÉ (Resumed) (13 Sep 2023)

Brendan Griffin: I am glad to say, since this whole thing blew up, that 30 June was the first meeting and so there have been three meetings in three months. Before that there was a handful, or three or four meetings, in the space of five or six years. When we examine what went wrong here then that is a major component in terms of giving us the answer. Mr. Kehoe has been on the board for a long time. On...