Bakhurst speaks to RTE staff during rally over funding

The new director-general of RTE briefly met some members of staff as approximately 100 employees staged a rally outside the national broadcaster to call on the Government to support public service broadcasting.

Kevin Bakurst, who officially took over the role on Monday, said he needed to work with staff to rebuild the organisation.

Non-union staff and employees represented by unions including SIPTU, the National Union of Journalists, Equity and Connect, held the demonstration on Wednesday amid fears for the future of RTE due to a crisis currently engulfing the station.

Employees are concerned that fallout from a controversy over understated payments to star presenter Ryan Tubridy will lead to a drop in commercial revenues from advertising and fewer people paying the obligatory TV licence fee.

Government has also paused a decision on the future funding of the broadcaster due to the scandal.

In addition, the Minister for Media appointed a forensic accounting firm to examine RTE’s accounts.

Mr Bakhurst said he was “listening to staff”.

“I’ve said in all the staff meetings we have to take some tough decisions in the end but I fully want to reflect the staff and the value of what they bring to the organisation.

“I totally want to listen to them, I want to work with them and we need to rebuild.

He said there was a need to stabilise the organisation and “keep it running”.

“There will be more change to follow in due course.”

During the rally, employees and union representatives were critical of the management and governance at RTE.

RTE worker Marguerite Sheridan highlighted the issue of long working hours during the pandemic: “We’re going to make sure that’s never ever going to happen again.”

Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) organiser Teresa Hannick said the future of the workers needed to be maintained.

Ms Hannick said: “These are jobs, these are real people and they need to be supported.”

Union representatives said the current TV licence fee system is not fit for purpose.

Speaking to the PA news agency, chair of the NUJ Dublin Broadcasting branch Emma O Kelly said: “We urgently need a sustainable model for the funding of public service broadcasting to be put in place.”

Ms O Kelly, who is also RTE News’s education correspondent, said people at the top of the organisation had almost “lost complete sight of our public service remit”.

“We need Government to fund this service properly. They can no longer expect to rely on getting public service broadcasting on the cheap.”

She welcomed the fact Mr Bakhurst had engaged with staff at the rally.

NUJ Irish secretary Seamus Dooley said there was a lack of political courage over the issue.

Addressing the demonstration, Mr Dooley said there were people on politics and in commercial media “who would dance on the grave of RTE”.

“Our message – and I never taught I would hear myself quoting Charles Haughey on this platform – is ‘Go dance on someone else’s grave’.”

Speaking to PA after the rally, Mr Dooley said the new interim leadership team would be judged by their actions.

“We need a new culture of openness and transparency.”

The demonstration comes one day after Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly faced hours of questioning from two key parliamentary committees.

Among the revelations from those blockbuster appearances was an email which Mr Kelly suggested directly contradicted the claim that ex-director general Dee Forbes had done a “solo run” by agreeing to underwrite a 75,000-euro-a-year deal involving RTE, Tubridy and Renault.

Tubridy, who normally hosts a radio programme every weekday, has not appeared on air since the scandal emerged.

He has expressed a desire to get back on the radio as soon as possible, but conceded it is “touch and go” whether he keeps his job.

However, some members of staff at the rally were questioning whether his explanations at the Oireachtas committee were enough to secure a return to the airwaves.

One speaker criticsed what he called “rockstar fees” to the highest earners at the organisation.

The demonstration was followed by a meeting of union representatives and chair of the RTE board Siun Ni Raghallaigh.

Media minister Catherine Martin announced Mazars as the forensic accountancy service that has been appointed under Section 109 of the Broadcasting Act to examine the accounts of RTE.

The forensic accountant will initially focus on the use of barter accounts by RTE and any other off-balance sheet accounts, however this scope may be expanded by the minister.

Ms Martin also announced the appointment of Stephen Smith to the expert advisory committee on governance and aulture and Liam Kelly to the expert advisory committee on contractor fees, human resources and other matters.

The committee memberships are now complete and the minister “hopes to meet” with the committees early next week.

Mazars will also collaborate and share findings with the two expert advisory committees.