The ill-fated ‘Toy Show The Musical’ is going to be scrutinised after its staging led to a €2.2m loss. Photo: Ste Murray

The RTÉ saga is far from over – as the embattled broadcaster is still facing a wave of probes and inquiries.

While the second Grant Thornton investigation into “hidden payments” may have now concluded, the auditor will now turn its attention to the failure of the Toy Show musical.

As well as that, politicians and the Government are ready to pounce with their own queries.

Toy Show The Musical

Even though two reports have now been carried out and published, Grant Thornton’s work within RTÉ has not concluded.

An RTÉ spokesperson confirmed that work will now begin into probing the ill-fated Toy Show The Musical, responsible for a loss of €2.2m for the public service broadcaster.

Despite earlier refusals from the broadcaster to publish figures surrounding the losses of the musical as they were deemed “commercially sensitive”, these were finally laid bare to Oireachtas committees several weeks ago.

Data showed the musical sold just 11,044 tickets and RTÉ sold less than €500,000 worth of tickets and sponsorship – €2.7m below what was expected.

The total costs for the musical were €2.7m, with an “actual loss on year one” of €2.2m.

It was held in the costly Convention Centre in Dublin, but seven performances running up to Christmas week were cancelled due to cast members falling ill.

The idea for the musical was backed by Rory Coveney, who resigned as RTÉ’s director of strategy when new boss Kevin Bakhurst took over at Montrose.

Exit payments

RTÉ has employed solicitors McCann FitzGerald to look into former chief financial officer (CFO) Breda O’Keeffe’s retirement package.

Questions were also raised about former boss Dee Forbes’s exit package at Oireachtas committees.

However, new director general Kevin Bakhurst announced an inquiry will look into two schemes which offered redundancy and early retirement packages for staff.

The schemes, which took place in 2017 and 2021, will be examined to see under what context they were used, the terms and conditions of each scheme and if any cost savings were generated as a result.

The legal experts will also look at whether there was a “consistent” approach towards staff who applied for the scheme but received no offer of an exit package and those who had an “end to end” process.

The review will also look at whether tax-exempt statutory redundancy payments were appropriately paid to those who accepted voluntary exit offers under each scheme. This probe is expected to conclude by the end of next month.

Government review

The Government announced two independent reviews of RTÉ.

Firstly, an expert governance group will look into whether RTÉ’s governance framework is fit for purpose and if it is in line with best practice.

The group will also look at the Grant Thornton reviews and what governance issues can be addressed; as well as the culture of the organisation.

RTÉ’s commercial side will also be examined and the impact this has on its public service role. This part of the review will be headed by Professor Niamh Brennan, a corporate governance expert.

The second review will focus on contractor fees and human resources (HR).

This review will be led by employment relations and HR expert Brendan McGinty alongside ex-ICTU general secretary, Patricia King.

It will look at what oversight and mechanisms RTÉ uses in talks with presenters and contractors, as well as their fees, the use of agents and the impact these have on costs.

However, the era of presenters operating as contractors and using agents to negotiate their pay may be at an end, with Mr Bakhurst said to be no longer willing to negotiate with Noel Kelly, who negotiated on behalf of Ryan Tubridy as well as other RTÉ presenters, including Claire Byrne and Joe Duffy.

Forensic accountants Mazars have also been appointed to examine the barter account and other RTÉ accounts.

The two reviews have a timeline of six months to get their work done. This will drag the RTÉ saga into early next year.

Oireachtas inquiries

Both the Dáil’s public spending watchdog, the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Media Committee, have launched their own inquiries.

They have already hauled RTÉ bosses as well as Tubridy and his agent in for box-office committee hearings.

However, the Media Committee has indicated it now wants to hear from the rest of the RTÉ board who have not yet come before the Oireachtas.

The PAC has also said it wants to hear from former director general, Dee Forbes, and head of content Jim Jennings, both of whom have been unable to attend due to illness.

PAC chairperson Brian Stanley also has said he wants to hear from former CFO Breda O’Keeffe, current CFO Richard Collins as well as Deloitte, who audited the national broadcaster.