A slew of RTE executives are expected in Leinster House again on Thursday morning for a grilling on the Ryan Tubridy secret payments scandal by members of PAC.
The Public Accounts Committee is the Dail’s spending watchdog and it has been given powers through a fresh Dail vote on Wednesday to look under the bonnet at RTE.
It is the second visit from the RTE suits to Kildare Street in two days after they faced a gruelling four and a half hour session before the Media Committee earlier.
Read More: RTE says it's 'impossible' for Ryan Tubridy to return to air 'at the moment'
And it comes as Media Minister, Catherine Martin, upped the ante on the beleaguered broadcaster as she slammed RTE’s performance at the first committee session, saying it revealed: “a shocking failure of governance at senior management level in RTÉ.”
The list of attendees at Thursday afternoon’s PAC session, which kicks off at 1:30pm and will be shown live on RTE channels, was not released tonight.
However, it is expected to feature many from the same cast of characters that turned up before the media committee, including RTE chairwoman, Siun Ni Raghaillaigh, strategy director Rory Coveney and acting RTE chief, Adrian Lynch.
Other former executives have been invited who are considered less likely to attend what is expected to be another blockbuster session.
They include Kevin Bakhurst, a former RTE chief and now incoming Director General, Noel Curran, former Director General, Moya Doherty, former Chairperson of the Board and Willie O’Reilly, an industry veteran who was once head of commercial at RTE.
The PAC has been granted almost unprecedented permissions by the Dail to perform a deeper probe into RTE’s books after Wednesday’s meeting.
They do not have to rely on just examining the annual audited accounts presented to the C&AG (Comptroller and Auditor General) every year, which they are normally limited to.
Instead, in these special circumstances they can have access to all of the books, going back to 2017.
They must conclude their work on this special project by December 31st this year, after which time their special extra powers will lapse.
Minister Martin was again scathing in her criticism of RTE tonight.
She said: “Today’s appearance at the Media Committee has revealed a shocking failure of governance at senior management level in RTÉ.
“This has not calmed the considerable disquiet about the lack of accountability at RTÉ in the public domain.
“At tomorrow’s [Thursday] meeting of the Public Accounts Committee, it is vital the Executive Board engages in as transparent a manner as possible, and I urge those present to responsibly account for the decisions taken which have seriously damaged the public’s trust in public service broadcasting.
“My focus remains on the external review of governance and culture at RTÉ and, to that end, today I have had constructive meetings with the RTÉ Trade Union Group and Screen Producers Ireland.
“Furthermore, the four week timeline for the delivery of the second Grant Thornton report does not reflect the urgency of the situation and I have asked for that to be accelerated.”
