RTÉ had 'ample opportunity' to flag write-down - Minister | Breaking News & Latest Ireland Updates

RTÉ had 'ample opportunity' to flag write-down - Minister — RTÉ had "ample opportunity" to flag a €3.6 million write-down to the Government, Minister for Media Patrick O'Donovan has said, adding that he was "di...

RTÉ had "ample opportunity" to flag a €3.6 million write-down to the Government, Minister for Media Patrick O'Donovan has said, adding that he was "disappointed" the broadcaster did not do so.

It was confirmed yesterday that RTÉhad written down a figure of €3.6 million on a partly failed IT system, which was one of the projects funded from the proceeds of the sale of land at its Dublin site in 2017.

Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Mr O'Donovan said he was surprised that knowledge of the situation had not emerged publicly before now, adding that while it was in RTÉ's accounts, it was "not in the accounts with an explanation".

He said: "RTÉ were before the Public Accounts Committee and the Committee with regard to Arts and Media on a number of occasions and none of the officials in my own department had any knowledge of the detail with regard to this impairment.

"What surprised me and disappointed me was that there was ample opportunity on more than one occasion for the organisation to say, with regard to all of the other well-documented difficulties that there were, to say 'we also have an impairment that is being carried forward from a set of accounts a number of years ago which we need to bring to the committee's and the Government's attention'. That unfortunately didn't happen.

"What I would say is that all of this predates the current management and the current Director General.

"Nonetheless, it did disappoint me and it did surprise me when my own head of finance and my own secretary general brought to my attention that there was a significant financial impairment of the order of €3m in the RTÉ accounts going back a number of years which hadn't really been explained to the Government, which hadn't been explained to the licence fee payers and which hadn't been explained to the public."

Following a recent meeting with the RTÉ Director General, Deputy Director General and Head of Finance, Mr O'Donovan said it seemed as though the financial modelling system was delivered "over budget" and the HR modelling system "wasn't delivered at all".

The minister said that while he does not know exactly how much over budget the financial modelling system was, he said it was "significantly" more than the original proposal.

He also said he was concerned by the fact that the human resource management element was never delivered.

Mr O'Donovan said: "We know the difficulties that the organisation has encountered in recent years, but this puts the organisation's ability to be able to deal with significant financial and capital works programmes at that time under question.

"The Director General, Deputy Director General and Head of Finance assured me at the meeting that different procedures and practices are now in place within RTÉ with regard to governance and oversight of major capital works programmes.

"Nonetheless, there is a report due to my department. When I get that, and when I get a proper report from the organisation with regard to the impairment which has been reported in the media, it is my intention to publish it.

"Once I have a completed report from the organisation, it's my intention to publish it. That may very well cause further questions to be answered, but in the meantime, I'm satisfied, based on what the Director General and the Chair have told me, that the agenda of reform and efficiency delivery that I would require to stand over that organisation, is under way."

"I think there was an opportunity probably missed here. I don't believe it was intentional, to be honest about it, but nonetheless this is a significant impairment, and it needs to be explained, both to me and to the public," he added.

RTÉ write-down a 'further big disappointment' - Donohoe

Earlier, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said it should have been made clear at the point in time at which the issue occurred.

Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he said: "Secondly, millions of euro, for any of us, are still huge amounts of money, particularly when they're invested in projects that don't actually then happen in the way that was intended."

The minister said it is important that Mr O'Donovan continues with his work to ensure he, his department and the public are aware of these issues, and for the reform agenda in RTÉ to be completed.

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He said State funding for layoffs at RTÉ has been made available "in recognition of the fundamental importance of public broadcasting to the health of our society and democracy".

"For me, a key issue here is also in relation to the timing of disclosure. When issues like this happen, you're always better off, when the facts are clear, making them available in a timely way as opposed to happening later, like this has happened," he said.

"That is why it is a further disappointment, but it's also why Patrick O'Donovan is right to be doing this work fully understand the scale of these issues."

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke said it is his understanding that Minister O'Donovan has sought a review of all projects worth more than €500,000 over the last five years.

Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland, he said said the minister met RTÉ last month and RTÉ is due to come back to him with more information.

"It's important to let Minister Patrick O'Donovan resolve this issue and deal with it," he said.

RTÉ terminated the contract with the one of the suppliers as a result of the issues that arose.

The broadcaster said that "this was the subject of a Settlement Agreement which is the subject of a confidentiality clause".

In August 2022, the project restarted following a phased approach and the finance system went live in March 2023.

"RTÉ did not ultimately proceed with the HR modules," the broadcaster confirmed.

The details of the write-down were first published by The Currency.

In the article in The Currency, it is stated that former RTÉ board member Ian Kehoe was not involved in the editing of the story and did not view the article prior to its publication.

Mr Kehoe, who is the Executive Editor of The Currency, was on the board of RTÉ from October 2018 to October 2023. He was a member of the Audit and Risk Committee of the board.

Read more:RTÉ confirms €3.6 million write-down over partly failed IT project