Results 1-17 of 17 for shane cassells segment:8649741

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: First of all, on governance, how did Mr. Lynch allow one man and his agent become bigger than RTÉ? One man was refusing to take a pay cut in the real sense and, to appease him, RTÉ ran off to find someone who would pay him and then pretend to everyone that he was taking a pay cut while secretly making it up to him channelling money from a sponsorship deal. As a result, this man...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: On that, because the statement says Mr. Lynch was aware of elements of the deal, regardless of what Mr. Lynch knew, the bottom line is that he and others knew there was a deal and he knew in reality that Mr. Tubridy was being compensated for the pay cut he was not taking. It may have been legal, but does Mr. Lynch not think that at the time that was against the spirit of things? When...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: In respect of that deal, because we have seen other payments in respect of the hosting of these public events, was Mr. Lynch aware of this as well in terms of the full aspects of it?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Was nobody aware of that other than the director general, DG?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Given that we do not have Ms Dee Forbes before us, and we do not know whether we ever will, and the statement from RTÉ yesterday stated that the construct of the deal, as Ms O'Leary has said, was with her, can we have a scenario where documents pertaining to this deal will be published so that the public can have full transparency in respect of it?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Why were the payments to Mr. Tubridy anonymised as consultancy fees in the barter account and is that a breach of accountancy rules?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Let us get down to the influence of third-party agents in RTÉ and the construction of deals, the influence of one man who seems to have had more power than anyone else at the negotiating table - "the real DG", as he was nicknamed. On 19 December 2019, we have for the first time the references to the facilitation of this tripartite deal - Santa comes six days early for the boys. Why was...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Okay, but my question is in terms of the influence of third-party agents within RTÉ. I saw the journalists who were assembled yesterday on the steps of Montrose. I refer to the reporters and researchers who spoke about freelancers who would not be even on a fraction of the top-up money this man was on. I am talking about the influence of agents who can negotiate deals in a tiny Irish...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Is there a monopoly there with Mr. Kelly, in terms of negotiating deals involving taxpayers' money and in terms of the impact of this within RTÉ?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: The RTÉ statement yesterday is obviously based on a trail of documents and emails over the past few months that were discoverable, but can Mr. Lynch guarantee he was never part of a conversation, a verbal exchange, or a chat in the corridor with Ms Forbes or others regarding this side deal that allowed Ryan Tubridy's sponsorship deal be underwritten by RTÉ?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Mr. Lynch has stated it was a verbal arrangement, has Mr. Lynch made inquiries because the suspension of Ms Forbes last week has removed one person from that process?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: In respect of the suspension of Ms Forbes, did Ms Ní Raghallaigh have a conversation with her before that suspension?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: In terms of setting out to Ms Forbes why she was being suspended, can Ms Ní Raghallaigh tell me what she said to her in that respect?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Indeed. Ms Ní Raghallaigh can appreciate that the suspension of that person has removed the one witness effectively from this process of trying to find out what has happened. The RTÉ statement yesterday squarely put the blame on one person.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Mr. Lynch, this morning we heard that Ryan Tubridy is out of contract, something he has since rejected, and that new contract negotiations have now been paused. I ask Mr. Lynch if Ryan Tubridy will be back on the air at RTÉ?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Does Mr. Lynch envisage him coming back on air in the long term?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (28 Jun 2023)

Shane Cassells: Okay.