RTÉ now facing tax bill from €450,000 exit payment to Breda O’Keeffe

PAC chair says ex-chief financial officer should pay back redundancy

Former CFO Breda O’Keeffe received €450,000 exit payment when leaving RTÉ, Kevin Bakhurst says at Oireachtas committee _duplicated

Fionnán Sheahan and Gabija Gataveckaite

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RTÉ is facing a substantial tax bill over a secret, six-figure golden handshake to former executive Breda O’Keeffe.

In the latest scandal to rock RTÉ, bosses at the station revealed its ex-chief financial officer received an exit package of €450,000. Her deal with former director general Dee Forbes was not signed off by management.

And the RTÉ HR manager – who processed the payment and is still working in Montrose – was told her position was not tenable in the eyes of the public.

Now there is a tax liability arising, as the redundancy didn’t meet the criteria for tax relief to be applied.

RTÉ has acknowledged it has “no estimate” of the potential cost of the tax bill arising from Ms O’Keeffe’s redundancy.

The broadcaster has reported the payment to Revenue, and has confirmed it will have to foot any tax bill – not Ms O’Keeffe.

The bombshell announcement came during tense exchanges at the Oireachtas Media Committee.

Addressing Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon, RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said he couldn’t divulge details relating to what the package is worth. He said it was “confidential”.

“We have had significant legal pressure over months to get this report out and to deal with this issue,” he said.