Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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139. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of instances in which RTÉ has requested a derogation in respect of the requirement on it to disclose legal costs and settlements by way of a note to its accounts in the past ten years to date; and the years in which derogation was sought and granted and-or declined. [35074/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The Broadcasting Act 2009 sets out RTÉ’s statutory obligations with regard to its accounts, annual financial statements and its annual report. In addition, RTÉ is subject to the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies (the Code). To confirm compliance (or otherwise) with the key provisions of the Codeand RTÉ’s annual reporting obligations, the Chair of the RTÉ Board is required to submit, on an annual basis, and in conjunction with the Annual Report, a comprehensive reporting letter to me, as Minister. This letter is intended to provide assurance that the systems of internal control, risk management and other areas of compliance are operating effectively, and addresses all of the requirements of the Code, in particular the requirements of paragraph 1.9 of the ‘Business and Financial Reporting Requirements’ Annex. This letter may be used to disclose certain information, subject to the prior written agreement of the Department, which has been deemed as commercially sensitive and unsuitable for general disclosure via the Annual Report.

The Code provides for exemptions from specific reporting provisions in certain situations, provided the objectives of those provisions can be achieved by other governance measures (Comply or ExplainSection of the Code).

Upon the revised Code (2016) coming into effect, the former Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment, provided guidance to RTÉ on the application of the Code. The guidance sets out an agreed approach, that where the disclosure of legal costs and settlements in the Annual Accounts is deemed by RTÉ to pose data protection issues or other risks, such costs may instead be disclosed in the Chair’s Letter to the Minister. In line with this provision, a derogation is not sought in relation to each legal case.

Accordingly, the overall amount of RTÉ legal costs and settlements have been disclosed in this manner each year since the 2016 Code was introduced.