Before being pummelled yet again at the Oireachtas Committee on Media, RTÉ executives and board members were given a grudging thanks for attending.
Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin said he wanted to “acknowledge” that fact, adding it was “not good enough” that so many others were not present.
He did not name anyone, but a note circulated to the committee showed that former director general Dee Forbes and former director of content Jim Jennings had “declined on health grounds”.
Former executives Rory Coveney, Richard Collins and Geraldine O’Leary “declined”, while former chief financial officer Breda O’Keeffe “declined, cites distress”.
Board member Connor Murphy “declined”, while former chair of the board Moya Doherty had “no response” beside her name.
The respite was brief, however, as board members and executives were pushed hard on issues such as the exit package given to Ms O’Keeffe and Toy Show The Musical.
There were few dramatic revalations. It was more of a hard grind over four hours as the witnesses were pressed hard.
One such person was RTÉ Director of Human Resources Eimear Cusack, who was put under the kosh by Sinn Féin TD Imelda Munster.
In her opening statement, Ms Cusack addressed her involvement in the exit package of Ms O’Keeffe.
She said: “The exit of the former CFO was processed in the same way as all the others. She received the standard letter which included the wording ‘as approved by the executive board’.
“This administrative oversight is one I take full responsibility for in my capacity as the signatory to that letter.”
Ms Munster zoned in on that phrase “administrative oversight”, saying she had heard of people playing down matters, but that this “takes the biscuit”.
Regarding whether Ms O’Keeffe’s package qualfied under the relevant programme, Ms Cusack said the assurance she received from then-director general Ms Forbes was that “the cost savings would be achieved, and I had no reason not to believe that”.
“Don’t play with words,” Ms Munster interjected. “You knew what you were being asked to sign off on wasn’t correct – but you did it.”
“I signed off on an instruction,” Ms Cusack replied.
The Sinn Féin TD for Louth pointed out on three occasions where Ms Cusack could have “raised a flag” but did not.
She asked: “Where you afraid of Dee Forbes, of tackling her?”
When the answer “no” came back, Ms Munster concluded: “That means you just didn’t do your job. That’s it in a nutshell.”
Pointedly, RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst intervened to stand-by his director of HR.
He suggested that she “probably should have” asked more questions at that time, but added he has “an extremely good head of HR”.
Fine Gael Senator Michael Carrigy disagreed saying that he, and the viewing public, would conclude that her position was untenable.
Mr Bakhurst did provide some new information.
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He also confirmed to Fianna Fáil Senator Shane Cassells that former RTÉ strategic director Rory Coveney was given an “exit package” when he resigned last year.
Mr Coveney had appeared before the committee previously to answer questions on Toy Show The Musical, which lost €2.2 million, but not today.
She said members of the audit and risk committee of the board “kept asking” questions, but did not get answers.
She said: “There is a rigourous process in place in RTÉ about how projects are supposed to get approval for funding or not… Rory Coveney and Dee Forbes deliberately circumvented that procedure.”
Ms O’Leary told Independent TD Mattie McGrath: “I feel completely betrayed… I assumed that they were careful executives.”
Mr Bakhurst said he took legal advice and was told no laws were broken in relation to Toy Show The Musical.
But he added that former chair Moya Doherty has “not been very available”, adding that her account of events would be “very helpful”.
He added things were run in a “very ad hoc, loose and – in my view – often very unprofessional way”.
Sinn Féin’s Thomas Gould juxtaposed the exit packages given to RTÉ executives with people who did not pay their licence fee being “dragged through the courts.” He called for them to be given an amnesty.
On several occasions, Mr Bakhurst said the organisation had, in the past, been run in a silo fashion, with decisions being taken in quiet conversations, but proper information not being provided to the full executive or board.
He stressed changes had been made to ensure this would never happen again.
The TDs and senators of the Oireachtas Media Committee looked as if they remain to be convinced.
Read more:
Ex-RTÉ CFO O’Keeffe paid €450k under exit deal, says director general
Established oversights in relation to RTÉ musical ‘deliberately circumvented’, committee told
Live: Former RTÉ DG Forbes not given exit deal – Bakhurst
One of them was Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan who demanded that Mr Bakhurst reveal whether former CFO Richard Collins received an exit package.
Mr Bakhurst replied that he could not due to legal reasons, adding: “This will end up with another legal bill.”
One thing both the members and witnesses could agree on, without a shadow of a doubt, is the need for people like Ms Forbes and Mr Jennings to speak out.
Mr Bakhurst volunteered a recent engagement with one of those former executives.
He told the committee: “I even got a letter, as of yesterday evening, from the solicitors of the previous chief financial officer setting out a range of things she would like me to say in committee and my response was: ‘You were invited. You can come in and say them yourself, if you want to’.”
