RTÉ crisis: Marty Morrissey admits ‘error of judgment’ over car deal with Renault

Key points

• Public Accounts Committee has met and agreed to issue invites to Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly, who had already indicated their wish to “fully co-operate”. They are expected to appear on Tuesday.
• Incoming DG Kevin Bakhurst has met Minister for Media and Arts Catherine Martin and said he will announcing his plans for RTÉ on Monday
• Board of RTÉ has asked that “swift action be taken” as its confidence in how the broadcaster’s executive has handled the fallout from €345,000 in hidden payments to Ryan Tubridy dwindles.
• Marty Morrissey releases statement, admits ‘error of judgment’ over car deal with Renault.

Best reads on RTÉ pay crisis

• Arthur Beesley looks at the questions that have been answered, and those left unanswered, so far in the debacle.
• Pat Leahy writes how spending on flip-flops is the least of RTÉ's problems, as it faces a financial crisis in the near future.
• Miriam Lord reports on RTÉ's meeting yesterday at the Oireachtas media committee.

Our political correspondent Jennifer Bray has written an explainer piece on what’s next for RTÉ after the ‘darkest period’ in the history of the State broadcaster, which you can read here.

She’s also written this piece, about Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly’s appearance before two Oireachtas committees on Tuesday next.

Speaking at Government buildings today Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that he intends to continue paying his TV licence and that he hopes the Government will look at restructuring and reorganising the TV license.

Video here:

Ellen O’Donoghue here, taking over from Mark for the evening.

RTÉ have responded to the Marty Morrissey statement saying that he will still be commentating on the All-Ireland Senior Men’s Hurling Semi-Final on Saturday and the All-Ireland Senior Camogie quarter-final on Sunday on RTÉ2 as scheduled, but that the matter is being addressed with Marty by RTÉ management.

Adrian Lynch, RTÉ's Interim Deputy Director General, has said that he has agreed with incoming Director General Kevin Backhurst that they will develop a comprehensive register of interests of RTÉ staff and contractors.

“This process has started and will be completed in the coming weeks. While in the short-term, we are focusing on RTÉ's on-air presenters, the scope of this process will be extended to all RTÉ employees, both staff and contractors to ensure compliance with RTÉ guidelines and contracts,” Mr Lynch said.

“It is our intention to make these details public once the register is complete.”

The union representing actors at RTÉ says it hopes the current crisis at the broadcaster might give rise to improved treatment of its members working on in-house productions.

“The relationship between the national broadcaster and the entire cultural sector is we believe now in jeopardy,” according to Irish Equity president Gerry O’Brien who has accused management of bad faith in its dealings with his members.

The organisation’s actions, he says, “have shown a lack of good governance, transparency, absence of good faith negotiations as well as the unilateral alteration of agreements and contracts.

“We are particularly concerned about the terms of engagement displayed by management in relation to in-house productions and towards our members employed in Fair City. Irish Equity has at all times engaged in fair, open and good faith negotiations that ensure a level playing field, this has not be reciprocated.

Michelle Quinn of Siptu, to which Equity is affiliated, will participate fully in the review process.

“Following the conclusion of this process we look forward to a new dawn for our members who work in RTÉ. A total cultural shift is now required. It is time to reset the clock at in RTÉ.”

The Marty Morrissey statement is now being picked over by his colleagues in the news room. It brings it home (again) just how internal this entire affair is for those working inside the national broadcaster.

As questions continued to fly over who got the five-year car loan (recently returned), RTE sports presenter Marty Morrissey has just released a statement.

He said that in 2017 he was asked to MC a series of functions in Renault garages across the country, interviewing several high-profile GAA personalities.

He said he sought and was granted permission to do so.

“As I hadn’t sought a fee, Renault offered me the use of a car. I accepted this offer. The situation carried over informally for a number of years,” he posted on Twitter, bringing the mystery to an end.

“I ended up MC-ing about 12 such events. Since the recent controversy within RTÉ arose, I reflected on this matter. I concluded that it had been an error of judgment on my part to accept the use of the car. I returned it voluntarily to Renault on Friday 23rd June.”

Mr Morrissey, an audience favourite in the world of GAA coverage, said that he had been asked this week to supply his employer with information about any commercial engagements, gifts or potential conflicts of interest, along with other employees.

“I did this and made full disclosure of this matter to RTE. I have never been appointed a brand ambassador for Renault.”

Crucially, he pointed out that he was never asked to endorse the car company and that it was simply an “ad hoc” arrangement.

“I wish to be clear that I have never had a car allowance from RTE. I have apologised to RTE, my managers and colleagues for any embarrassment or difficulty I have caused them because of this matter. I also apologise to any of our viewers and listeners who may feel let down by my actions. It was never my intention to let anyone down, least of all myself.”

This just up from Marty Morrissey...

Questions remain focused on which RTE employee had long term car loan

Minister for Arts and Media Catherine Martin has said is hopeful that RTÉ will reveal more information about the staff member who benefitted from the loan of a car for five years.

Ms Martin told reporters today that the arrangement was “something that was of deep dissatisfaction” and that she had told incoming Director General Kevin Bakhurst that “I’d hope they’d be in a position to reveal something on that, or more detail in the future”.

She was speaking after talks with Mr Bakhurst, RTÉ chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh and the interim Deputy Director General Adrian Lynch.

Ms Martin would not be drawn on the specifics of Mr Bakhurst’s plan to reconstitute the RTÉ executive board.

“He informed me of his intentions for reconstituting the board and I am satisfied that this will be a very important first step on the road RTÉ must take to restore trust”

“I’ve been informed, and I think it’s for the incoming Director General to inform the public on Monday,” she said. “It’s not for me to announce the decisions,” she said, adding that she had asked for him to reveal his plans “in a public manner on his first day in office on Monday”. He said that whatever steps were taken, they should ensure that they would still allow engagement with the Oireachtas.

Asked about the impact of the crisis on RTÉ's finances, she said she had been in “high level” discussions with other minsiters before the issue, and that she “will look in the budget negotiations, I will consider what is needed at that time with Minister Donohoe”

In relation to today’s developments, readers can access the views expressed by both incoming RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst here and Minister for Media Catherine Martin here, courtesy of The Irish Times video team.

Bakhurst will “act swiftly”, says Minister

In the aftermath this morning’s meeting, Minister for Media Catherine Martin said she was satisfied Kevin Bakhurst’s plans for reforming the RTE executive board would prove a “significant first step” in restoring trust.

“You could see yesterday the damage in the relationship between the board and the executive and I think his intention to act on Monday will help heal that,” she said.

Ms Martin would not be drawn on the need for personnel change. That remains a key question, what does “reconstitution” mean exactly? The Minister said it was not her function to interfere with the management of RTE. Detail of the plans is for Mr Bakhurst to reveal, she said.

“These are his intentions and I believe he has to engage with people before I make an announcement on it,” she said. That will keep people guessing over the weekend.

“I think he will act swiftly in the coming days when he takes his office. He will announce immediate actions on Monday.”

There remains a lot of talking around the specifics. Ms Martin seized on her opportunity to address the restoration of trust, the importance of public service broadcasting and opportunities “to press a reset”. That is all very well but it looks like Monday must be awaited for the details.

The Minister did say that the reviews being established into RTE conduct would compliment whatever plans Mr Bakhurst ultimately unveils.

On the issue of Toy Story The Musical – eesh, yes that again – Ms Martin said a review of the show is sought by the RTE board.

And as to this mysterious car loan of five years to an unnamed RTE staff member, a question that will not go away, Ms Martin said she hoped more details could be released.

“I don’t know who it is, I haven’t been told,” she said, without missing a beat. You get the impression at this stage that nobody being asked wants to know.

Potential price caps too, she said, would be covered in the external review of the organisation.

But as to the conduct of the recent committee grilling of RTE executives, Ms Martin said the engagement must be continued “with calm and with respect”.

“You can see that there is huge dissatisfaction with what has unravelled in the past few weeks. I can understand the drip feeding of information has just not been acceptable and that can lead to frustration.”

Naturally, every politician anywhere near a media microphone today will be asked about the latest developments.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan was among the first to welcome plans by Kevin Bakhurst to immediately commence a reconstitution of the station.

Shortly after today’s meeting ended, he said a reconstitution of RTE’s executive board should bring a “real reform of the institution to make sure that it’s still living up to its initial founding standards”.

“I think the core of the issue is that trust comes in an institutional organisation which key job is to deliver transparency, transparency about what’s happening in our country and in the wider world,” he told RTÉ radio’s News at One.

“And when the same organisation can’t provide such transparency on their own operations, that’s a fundamental problem.

“RTÉ provides a hugely important public service. It’s the cornerstone of Irish journalism. And in a world where there’s so much disinformation and fake news, the ability of RTÉ, which it’s shown over decades since its foundation, to be impartial, to be questioning and to be accurate is a really important asset for our country, for us as a people.”

Mr Ryan said he knew there was frustration within RTÉ that there had not yet been a resolution to the issue of future funding.

“We had commissioned a very extensive report, the Future Media Commission report which came forward with certain recommendations. The revelations of the last two weeks have, understandably, completely disrupted that whole process overnight for new funding.”

Elsewhere, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien welcomed the pending appearance of Ryan Tubridy and Noel Kelly before the Oireachtas committees.

“But fundamentally I don’t think we need to lose the focus on what really needs to happen. [It is] about ensuring that these types of practices don’t reoccur,” he told Irish Times Dublin Editor Olivia Kelly.

“It’s obvious to me and to Government that there’s a major reform process that needs to be brought to bear in RTE.”

He said people on the ground were genuinely annoyed, but declined to give a view on Ryan Tubridy’s future. No surprise there.

So as far as the RTÉ controversy goes, it looks like another busy week to come.

This just in from our political correspondent Jennifer Bray:

It now looks as though Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly will appear before politicians not once but twice on Tuesday. In a letter to the media committee, a member of Hayes Solicitors (representing the two) said they “note that the Public Accounts Committee has scheduled our meeting with them between 11am and 2pm, next Tuesday.”

“We would greatly appreciate if our meeting with your committee could be arranged immediately after our meeting with the Public Accounts Committee.”

Politicians on the media committee are eager to facilitate the demand, it is understood, and are working to ensure they have a committee room available to make it happen.

This fuller report from our political reporter Jack Horgan-Jones who was among the media throng awaiting Mr Bakhurst’s first public utterances on the RTÉ saga this morning:

Incoming director general of RTÉ Kevin Bakhurst has failed to express explicit confidence in the executive board of the broadcaster.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Minister for Media Catherine Martin, Mr Bakhurst did not directly address a question as to whether the executive board has his confidence, saying he would be making a detailed statement on Monday when he takes up his new role.

“It’s not fair, there are individuals involved here – I need to talk to them and also I want to talk to staff before coming out and saying something publicly,” he said.

“For me, restoring trust of the audience and of staff and of politicians in RTÉ is absolutely key.

“It’s been severely diminished, it’s been a highly damaging few weeks for RTÉ, and it’s been very difficult to watch. I’m looking forward to starting the job and trying to repair that.”

He said the meeting with Ms Martin, which was attended by acting DG Adrian Lynch and Chairwoman Siún Ní Raghallaigh, was “frank” and “very useful”.

“I just want to say to audiences of RTÉ, my job is to restore trust, it’s been severely damaged, again I apologise for that, but that’s my job, to restore trust in this organisation and that’s what I’m going to try and do.”

Asked about the state of the broadcaster’s finances, Mr Bakhurst said there were “of course” concerns and the impact of the crisis would have to be assessed, alongside the state of its balance sheet “before all this blew up”.

He refused to answer questions about the RTÉ employee who had the loan of a car for five years, only saying that if necessary, there will be a process put in place to address the situation.

Asked about his message to licence-fee payers, he said: “Please look at what we do, look at our actions, look at what we’re trying to do to restore trust. Funding the programming we do, particularly news and current affairs which has performed excellently throughout this and relies on public funding. Those people who pay their licence fees, look at the actions that we do, we’ll have to earn their trust back.”

‘There is no doubt my job has changed hugely’

Responding to a flurry of questions, Mr Bakhurst said trust in his organisation had been severely diminished and that it had been “painful to watch”.

“I’m looking forward to starting the job and trying to repair that,” he said.

The finances of RTÉ are an ongoing concern, he said.

“It’s a huge challenge. It wasn’t quite the challenge that I thought I was taking on when I took on this job, but it’s a challenge that I will do my absolute best to deliver with the right team.”

He also appealed to audiences considering whether or not to pay their licence fee to look at what RTÉ does and that funding was important.

Mr Bakhurst said he may meet employee unions as early as Friday and joked about the amount of work he has had to do before he even takes up the role officially.

He declined, however, to talk about which RTÉ staff member had the loan of a car for five years.

“There is no doubt my job has changed hugely,” he conceded in the wake of the controversy.

So speaking afterwards, incoming DG Kevin Bakhurst told awaiting media he would be announcing his plans on Monday – that is the day before Ryan Tubridy and agent Noel Kelly are expected before the Public Accounts Committee.

“My job is to restore trust; clearly that’s been severely damaged,” he said.

As to the executive board, he said he would also outline those plans in detail next week. He said he needed to speak to individuals on the board first.

Mr Bakhurst said that during his previous tenure at the broadcaster he had been aware of the existence of a barter account for trading airtime – “that’s as far as I knew about it”.

“I also want to talk to staff before I come out and say something publicly. For me, restoring the trust of the audience and of staff and of politicians in RTÉ is absolutely key.”

They have now emerged from that meeting, and we’ll bring you an update shortly.

With chairwoman of the RTÉ board Siún Ní Raghallaigh and incoming director general Kevin Bakhurst still in that meeting with Minister for the Media Catherine Martin, all ears will be awaiting some insight into what was discussed, or possibly even agreed.

Remember, among the issues the Minister wants to discuss is Mr Bakhurst’s plan to “reconstitute” the executive board.

The incoming DG will formally take up the role on July 11th.

Last week Ms Martin said she had not yet engaged with him; that it would be inappropriate to do so before he was in situ.

Mr Bakhurst will come into an environment crying out for reform, and there will be considerable attention on his immediate actions and those in the longer term as the Government reviews reach completion.

It is in that context that his assurance to journalists this morning that he would speak after today’s meeting are of considerable interest. What might he say? Will he give any indications of his coming approach to the job?

With forensic analysis and criticism of RTÉ corporate spending likely to continue for months to come, can there be a tendency to assume everything they have done is dubious? That question is likely to be addressed when the understandable public and political furore subsides a little. Here is one question posed by our Conor Lally:

That producer insight comes following an increasing focus on the RTÉ production in recent weeks.

As part of a wider trawl though expenditure at Montrose, the PAC had sought details of costs involved for the controversial musical, including profit and loss.

Niamh Smyth, chairwoman of the media committee, had also previously questioned the debacle.

In response, RTÉ’s director of strategy, Rory Coveney, told her Dublin’s Convention Centre, which seats 2,000 people, had been chosen as it “was the right size for the type of show we wanted to put on. Obviously we were incorrect”.

The handling of that production serves as a suitable metaphor for everything that has been dogging RTÉ on expenditure in recent weeks.

“Toy Show the Musical is a celebration of the magical and joyful tradition unique only to Irish people on that one special evening at the end of November,” a press release accompanying the doomed production promised last year.

“It’s a celebration of tradition and, more importantly, a heart-warming story of one girl’s journey to preserve it.”

Even last December, Alan Hughes had accused RTÉ of having a commercial advantage over its competitors.

At the time he revealed he had spent €50,000 advertising his panto on RTÉ, while Toy Show the Musical had benefited from free cross-platform promotion on the broadcaster. If nobody was entirely listening back then, they are now.

Independent producer and panto star Alan Hughes has told of how the launch of Toy Show the Musical was a “major blow” to his production of Snow White at the National Stadium last Christmas.

Mr Hughes told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show that he questioned “what planet” RTÉ's Rory Coveney lived on when he told the Oireachtas Media Committee that the Toy Show musical was not competing with other shows on in Dublin at that time, reports Vivienne Clarke.

“It was a major blow to us,” said Mr Hughes, who questioned the timing of the decision by RTÉ to stage the show. “We had just come out of two years of Covid. The entertainment industry was decimated over those two years. We couldn’t put anything on,” he said.

“Last year was our first year to actually try and get back something on to a scale that we could get audiences back in to just try and fill theatres again and then RTÉ comes up with this brainwave of putting on their Toy Show The Musical in complete competition.

“When you have the might of RTÉ and the power of advertising and free advertising that they have. How can he actually sit at a committee yesterday and say they were not competing with the shows? It makes my blood boil.”

Mr Hughes also questioned who had advised RTÉ that the Toy Show musical would have an 80 per cent return, especially with a new show with no track record. He said he would have been “over the moon” if his pantomime, which was celebrating 25 years, achieved an 80 per cent return. “You can’t take these things for granted.”

Mr Hughes also put in a request to then director general of RTÉ Dee Forbes questioning the timing and placement of Toy Show musical adverts in the same slot as the adverts for his pantomime he had paid for.

The Toy Show musical adverts were running on radio and television for months for free, while he had to spend “thousands,” he said.

“I didn’t think that was fair, competitive-wise. And I was told it was not a commercial advert and they were allowed to run it in the same time slot, totally decimating the money that I was paying in the ads. So my ad was on and then the Toy Show musical came on for free. For free. How is that fair and how is that fair to anybody who was competing in that saturated market?”

Mr Hughes further queried the cost of renting the Convention Centre. “That’s an expensive venue to hire,” he said, adding most producers would not pay that cost.

“When I saw the budget for the rehearsal space, we were rehearsing in community halls and school halls. Most shows around the country rehearse in community halls. Were there three-course meals provided every day?”

The €2.7 million budget for Toy Show the Musical was “four or five times” what it would take to put on a pantomime in the National Stadium, he said.

“It wouldn’t be feasible for most productions to do that. But then if it’s not your own money, you just go, oh yeah, let’s do it. That’s the thing. People sit down and for anyone to think that you are going to get an 80 per cent return on your first year was in cloud cuckoo land.

“I don’t think any producer with a solid mind of putting on a show would think that you’re going to get 80 per cent return. In one year or two – you really have to get around the country. Why did they not tour it? Why weren’t they in the INEC in Killarney or at the town hall in Galway? Why weren’t they bringing it back to the people?”

As mentioned here by Jack Horgan-Jones, it will be interesting to get a take on things from incoming RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst who has said he will comment on his meeting with Minister for Media Catherine Martin on his way out of the department later.

Broadcaster Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly will be invited to appear before a public hearing of the PAC next Tuesday, it has emerged.

Jack Horgan-Jones reports that committee members agreed this morning to issue a formal invitation to the pair today, as well as another invite for RTÉ executives next Thursday.

The hearings will be highly anticipated as politicians say it is vital they hear the two men’s account of their understanding of how payments to Mr Tubridy came to be wrongly reported by the station.

Mr Kelly and Mr Tubridy will be questioned around misstated payments made by RTÉ to Mr Tubridy between 2017 and 2022.

They are also expected to appear before the Oireachtas Media Committee shortly.

In a letter via their solicitor to the Oireachtas Media Committee, sent on Tuesday morning, the pair said they “wish to fully co-operate and assist” with the committee’s investigations.

It also says that both parties would welcome the opportunity to set out their positions and take “appropriate questioning” from the committee.

A booklet of relevant documents will be prepared in advance of Mr Tubridy and Mr Kelly appearing, and this will be circulated among TDs before the meeting.

“They believe that they have important information that will assist the committee,” the letter said.