SHOCKING REVELATION | 

More barter accounts unearthed in review of RTÉ finances

It has been reported that Media Minister Catherine Martin will be given the full details later

Today at 21:30

A review of RTÉ’s finances is reported to have unearthed more barter accounts – the type of account used to make undisclosed payments to Ryan Tubridy.

RTÉ News reported that while Media Minister Catherine Martin has not been fully briefed about the shocking revelation, she will be given the full details later.

The additional barter accounts are said to have been discovered in a review.

Meanwhile the Dáil heard earlier today that RTÉ stars Doireann Garrihy and Eoin McGee were paid substantial public funds by State bodies, even though they were already publicly funded.

TD Catherine Murphy, former co-leader of the Social Democrats, claimed in the Dáil that Garrihy was paid €20,000 by the publicly-funded Horse Racing Ireland to promote Cheltenham – “an event in another jurisdiction”.

Another RTÉ star, Eoin McGee, who wrote a book How To Be Good With Money, was paid €17,000 for his advice by the Competition And Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), she said.

2:15

Sinn Féin spokeswoman Imelda Munster TD says what has been revealed in recent times would “shame the most extravagant of Celtic Tiger excesses.”

These payments had been revealed to her through replies to parliamentary questions, she said.

“The situation indeed raised questions about how to be good with money,” she told a Dáil debate on the RTÉ finances scandal.

Ms Murphy also predicted there would be a lot more tickets and dinners revealed when the details of the barter account were published. RTÉ executives had not been honest with each other, she suggested.

The commercial director of RTÉ, Geraldine O’Leary, “had the choice to say no – instead she did what she was told by the Director General”, Ms Murphy said.

She raised a newspaper report that Ms O’Leary had been questioned internally within RTÉ about one payment “over a year ago”.

Fiann Fáil TD Jennifer Murnane O’Connor said a woman on an old age pension had told her that “we all struggle to pay our TV licences. As a granny I find it very hard when I hear these stories”.

Former chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness, said there had to be compellability, and he wondered why the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) had not been sent in to audit the monies that went into RTÉ.

The Government should be looking “outside the State for auditors that are not in any way compromised”, he said. All of the paperwork, including the contract with Renault, should be opened and made available for scrutiny, he said.

The audit committee and governance at Montrose had failed over 10 years, he said. “We need to do something extraordinary to rescue the reputation of RTÉ,” he added.

Getting information from RTÉ executives had been like “extracting teeth” at the PAC meeting last week, he said.

“What we should be looking at is who did the deal? Corruption starts at the top,” he said.

He wanted reform of the PAC, the strengthening of its powers, and the involvement of the C&AG. Until that was done, the message that was going out was one of lip-service, he said.

Patrick Costello of the Green Party said there should be “pay-caps for all” in RTÉ, so that everyone was treated fairly, a sentiment echoed by Sinn Féin Deputies.

Mairead Farrell TD said there was a concept within RTE “that only certain people were talented” and these deserved “very large sums of money.”

Colleague Ruairí Ó Murchú said it took “a fair bit of arm-twisting” before RTE put their hands up “to a certain extent” last week.

“The good news is that, after a number of years, this was brought to light. It looks like Renault events – at a figure of €47,000 — also cost the taxpayer,” he said.

Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon said he would describe what happened as a fraud.

Referring to Media Minister Catherine Martin, he said her own “lack of curiosity” when first told of the situation also had to be questioned.

“We’re three months down the road,” he said, asking for clarification of what the minister had been told in March, and what questions she had asked.

1:19

Two reviews announced in ‘root and branch examination’ of RTE

Meanwhile Sinn Féin TD Imelda Munster said Ryan Tubridy, his agent Noel Kelly and former RTÉ director general Dee Forbes must “do the decent thing” and turn up to the Dáil’s Media Committee this week.