Send in the auditors

Govt is to sanction probe of RTE finances. Dail panel inquiry to run during summer

- GRAINNE NI AODHA

THE Government is set to green light an auditor to examine RTE's finances - just as the Public Accounts Committee warned it plans to continue inviting witnesses to testify before the panel.

Coalition chiefs also played down reports of hundreds of redundancies and a sell-off of 2FM amid the ongoing crisis over secret payments to Ryan Tubridy.

Minister of State Ossian Smyth said yesterday the external review process is expected to take months and would include interim reports.

He also told RTE's The Week in Politics that Media Minister Catherine Martin has the power under the Broadcasting Act to send in an auditor and he expected she "will use that power".

She is also due to meet with chairwoman of the RTE board Siun Ni Raghallaigh and incoming director general Kevin Bakhurst.

They will discuss the external review, Mr Bakhurst's plan to "reconstitute" the executive board and to engage with staff at the station Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley, who chairs the PAC the Oireachtas spending watchdog - also said witnesses may be called in over the summer recess in relation to the payments.

The panel heard evidence from RTE executives and its board last week and has requested extensive documentation from the broadcaster relating to its accounts and payments.

It wants details of Tubridy's five-year contract and a legal note taken on the May 2020 video call where a key decision was reportedly made in relation to payments to him. At the hearing on Thursday, RTE's director of legal affairs Paula Mullooly said the note was protected by legal privilege and could not be submitted amid "active and threatened litigation".

The PAC has sought parliamentary legal advice in relation to this and called on RTE to waive the legal privilege in the interest of transparency.