The chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), John Brady, has said members have requested a copy of the agreement on reforms made between the RTÉ and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
The PAC has agreed to ask RTÉ and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, to appear before it after the October break.
Members said they will write to the Department and to RTÉ’s Director General Kevin Bakhurst.
The Sinn Féin TD said the €20 million cut to RTÉ”s funding for 2027, confirmed by Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan yesterday, “raises very serious questions”.
Mr Brady said the committee will now interrogate the details of the agreement and “get to the bottom of what has gone on”.
“We are also now witnessing an unedifying public back-and-forth between RTÉ and the Minister, with serious questions being raised about the agreement that was reached and the basis on which it was subsequently revised,” he said.
Mr Brady said the public deserve “absolute clarity”, and added that the ongoing dispute is more concerning because legislation to bring RTÉ under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General still has not passed.
He said the dispute is “typical” of Minister O’Donovan’s approach.
Mr Brady accused the minister of causing “chaos through press statements and public pronouncements but abjectly fail to deliver”.
A meeting took place between Mr O’Donovan, RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst and RTÉ Chair Terence O’Rourke.
In a statement, the Department of Communications described the meeting as “positive”.
Fianna Fáil TD Séamus McGrath said it is important to ascertain the facts in the case.
“We need to see factually contained in that agreement. Obviously, the funding was predicated on a certain degree of progress in terms of transformation, in terms of reducing the cost base at RTÉ.
“I think we need to study that and interrogate the officials from the Department and representatives from RTÉ to see exactly where we are with that progress,” said Mr McGrath.
He said the public dispute was “unfortunate”, but welcomed that “both sides reporting a positive meeting” this afternoon.
Fine Gael TD James Geoghegan said: “Irrespective of what we are reading about in our papers today and what we are hearing from Mr Bakhurst, hopefully monies will be found and maybe that issue will be resolved.
“Over the long term, I think this is illustrative of issues that we actually identified in this Public Accounts Committee. That relates to who is accountable for the delivery of the RTÉ strategy ultimately,” he said.
Mr Geoghegan said when Department officials appeared before the committee “they said it wasn’t their job to oversee the delivery of the strategy”.
Mr Geoghegan said RTÉ is “nowhere near” its target of reducing its headcount by up to 400 in the period up to 2029.
He said he is concerned about the “spending of public money”.
Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly said the “public fallout” is “no way to manage a situation like this”.
Mr Farrelly said the accusation is now that the “Department is reneging on the agreement that they’ve put in writing for 2027”.
Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe said it is very clear this is not a budgetary discussion.
“This is about the exposure of the State and public money, an agreement that was signed, and the enforcement of that agreement,” he said.
He added: “This is the place where we should be holding accounting officers to account.”
The Comptroller and Auditor General said: “We are going to be under significant pressure if we have to take responsibility for audit for RTÉ for 2026.”
Séamus McCarthy said it is up to the Oireachtas to pass legislation, to “allow us to engage fully”.
Mr McCarthy said there will be a limit to what they can do in the time available.
Mr Brady said they would also address members’ “frustration” with this delay in this process when writing to the Department and RTÉ.
