RTÉ director general should ask executives to step aside, says Committee chair

Vivienne Clarke

The chairperson of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley has said that one of the first things the incoming director general of RTÉ Kevin Bakhurst needed to do was to ask some of the executives involved in the current controversy to step aside.

The “dysfunctionality” within the station had been known for some time, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

“What's needed here is substantial change. The new director general needs to take decisive action. And I think one of the first things he needs to do is that he needs to ask some of the senior executives to step to one side.

“Obviously, you want to keep them accountable. So that means keeping them on the payroll, unfortunately. But they do need to step to one side straight away. That's the minimum that's required here.

“I think that the examinations and the inquiries into the barter and into the other matters, that's important, that process, we do need to see an interim report on that because it shouldn't be allowed to drag on too long over the summer.

“There will be some information that will come out pretty quickly for sure, I think the three weeks of this, when forensic accountants go in. We need to see that. So if we have an interim report from that, that will be welcome as well.”

Mr Stanley also queried the “sheer number of freebies” connected to Toy Show the Musical, along with the same of the losses. He also echoed concerns about the size of the venue.

“The idea of coming into a crowded market, in a very small town or city, just over a million people and running into Christmas, in the middle of a cost of living crisis, when you put it all together, this is a recipe for disaster, I think, commercially."