Results 121-140 of 1,815 for speaker:Malcolm Byrne

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

Malcolm Byrne: I appreciate that. The McCann Fitzgerald report found that there were ten cases that potentially did not satisfy the requirements for voluntary redundancy under the relevant Acts. There were issues with Revenue in respect of those redundancy questions. With regard to the bogus contracts of self-employment, there is now a contingency plan in RTÉ with regard to the costs and the risks....

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

Malcolm Byrne: I suppose I am asking what RTÉ's contingency 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)

Malcolm Byrne: RTÉ will have a contingency set aside, however.

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

Malcolm Byrne: I appreciate 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)

Malcolm Byrne: We are talking €15 million and €200,000 as the two ballpark figures.

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

Malcolm Byrne: I want to come to Ms O'Keeffe's voluntary package. This actually speaks more to the culture within the organisation. As I understand, Ms O'Keeffe was appointed the acting CFO in 2013 within RTÉ. That competition was filled internally. Her predecessor had left under a voluntary exit package at the time. Ms O'Keeffe subsequently got to leave under a voluntary exit package. This 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)

Malcolm Byrne: Thank you, and that offer from the committee obviously remains, as Deputy Griffin 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)

Malcolm Byrne: I appreciate that. If I can move on to the Grant Thornton report, and I just want to be correct in my understanding of this, no member of the board was aware of Toy Show The Musicalas a concept and how it was developed before the combo meeting of 29 March. I am conscious Mr. Hickey and Ms O'Leary are named as having attended the combo meeting, but no member of the board was aware prior to March.

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

Malcolm Byrne: The previous chair was aware of this. I find it somewhat bizarre and really odd, given that significant financial undertaking early on and given that - I appreciate what Adrian Lynch said about some of the external expertise - this was at a scale that was unprecedented. I am conscious Ms O'Leary started to raise some of the issues. When that was presented to her at that combo meeting, as...

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

Malcolm Byrne: Okay. I want to ask Mr. Lynch then, because clearly this seems to be something that was explored and examined at the executive board. The impression I get from reading the Grant Thornton report and from what we have heard from board members is that the board was at all times told this is going well and that ticket sales are fine. In fact, the wording used at one stage is that it was even...

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

Malcolm Byrne: I think we know this. Was there never a question, and did somebody not say, "Folks, we are about to put a big show down in the convention centre-----

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

Malcolm Byrne: A lot of that is in the public domain. Was there nobody on the executive board who just suddenly said, "Hang on, we are really worried about this. We need to go further or we need to provide more details to the board itself"?

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

Malcolm Byrne: I see they were but they were the cultural concerns and the damage to the reputation. I think it is fair to say that the issues were not necessarily raised around funds. Very quickly, I have two final questions for Mr. Bakhurst, which is part of the restoration of trust. It is part of what we are trusting Mr. Bakhurst with. Two of the things he indicated need addressing. One is that he...

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

Malcolm Byrne: Thank you.

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

Malcolm Byrne: Who has a Dáil motion 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)

Malcolm Byrne: There is just one issue I want to come back to with regard to ticket sales for Toy Show The Musical, which was referred to in the Grant Thornton report. I refer to the findings on page 11. Ticket sales, obviously, depend partly on how many need to be sold to break even. My one concern about this - and it relates to what the board was informed about and, indeed, what the executive board was...

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

Malcolm Byrne: So the venue was clearly booked for a particular period-----

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

Malcolm Byrne: I do not know if Mr. Lynch is able to fill us in from the executive board.

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

Malcolm Byrne: Very finally. I suggest making the rights to Toy Show The Musicalavailable to amateur societies around the country. You might find that they might make more money from 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)

Malcolm Byrne: Well, I encourage you to make them available. We have had a very long session, and a number of the guests here have come before our committee on a number of occasions. I sincerely thank them because they have been candid and honest and have admitted where things have gone wrong. It is critical that we have a well-functioning RTÉ and that we have good public service broadcasting and...