RTE director-general Kevin Bakhurst says he will not resign over exit packages

RTE’s director-general has said he is not going to resign following controversy around exit arrangements of senior executives.

Kevin Bakhurst said he stands by everything he has done since he took over the post at the embattled national broadcaster.

Media minister Catherine Martin has said confidentiality agreements should be avoided in any future severance arrangements at RTE and that caps on exit payments should be introduced.

Mr Bakhurst has said he is committed to maximum transparency and rebuilding trust in the organisation, which was already engulfed in scandal when he became director-general in July.

However, fresh speculation and controversy has arisen over the details of exit arrangements for senior executives during his short tenure.

It comes after it was revealed that former director of strategy Rory Coveney received a payment following his resignation last year, in the same week that Mr Bakhurst took on the top job.

Mr Coveney was the “driving force” behind Toy Show The Musical, which recorded 2.2 million euro in losses after a single season in 2022.

The musical also went ahead without receiving formal approval from the RTE board, according to a report commissioned by the broadcaster.

Over the weekend, RTE released a statement on the exit arrangements for Mr Coveney and three other former executives.

Saying he had been restricted by legal advice, Mr Bakhurst said Mr Coveney had agreed he should stand down, his role became redundant and an exit payment was offered by RTE and accepted.

The director-general said RTE expected to recoup the cost of the payment to Mr Coveney by July of this year, one year after the former director resigned.

This has led to speculation the payment to Mr Coveney was approximately one year’s salary, or around 200,000 euro.

Labour party spokeswoman for media Senator Marie Sherlock said there had been a “convenient retrofitting of the truth”.

She said: “It was either a resignation or it was not.

“The public were led to believe last year that Rory Coveney had resigned of his own volition. That does not technically reach the definition of redundancy.”

Ms Sherlock accused Minister for Media Catherine Martin of “timidity” in her approach.

It was also recently revealed that, prior to Mr Bakhurst’s tenure, a 450,000-euro exit package was given to former RTE chief financial officer Breda O’Keefe without the knowledge of the full executive board.

Fine Gael TD and member of the Oireachtas media committee Alan Dillon said the details of all exit packages of all executives dating back to 2016 is to be published.

The media minister has called for maximum transparency around the payment and summoned Mr Bakhurst and Siun Ni Raghallaigh, the chairwoman of the RTE board, to the Department on Monday.

Speaking to reporters following the approximately two-hour meeting with Ms Martin, Mr Bakhurst said the discussion was “constructive”.

He said: “The next step on that is we’re taking legal advice. We spoke to external lawyers this morning about how far we can push transparency and what we can and what we can’t say.

“They’ve gone away to look at that and we should have the advice within the next couple of days.

“And off the back of that advice we’ll be seeing how far we can push transparency about some of the questions that have been raised, mindful of we have to respect the law as an organisation, and also mindful of all employees’ rights at RTE, which is always a maximum consideration for us.

“So once we have that advice we’ll be in a position to say more about it”.

Asked whether he would resign, Mr Bakhurst said “No, absolutely not. I stand entirely by what I’ve done about trying to move the organisation forward with a new leadership team and make payments which are in the best interest and the best value for RTE.”

Speaking to reporters at a later briefing on Monday, Ms Martin said she has asked RTE to explore all options to provide further transparency, including asking individuals involved to waive their rights under confidentiality agreements.

Asked if Mr Bakhurst should resign, she said: “I think Kevin is the best person to be as DG in RTE. I think he has implemented substantial reform and has a body of work to do now, and a strategic vision, and following through on reform needed.”

She would not provide a figure on what the cap on exit payments should be but said it should be at the higher level and packages should not be “extraordinary”.

She also said RTE had committed to a reform which would require board approval for future exit packages.

In the statement on Saturday, RTE also commented on the exit arrangements for director of commercial Geraldine O’Leary, director of legal affairs Paula Mullooly, and chief financial officer Richard Collins.

RTE said Mr Collins left by mutual agreement following independent mediation with a “binding confidentiality clause that was agreed to by both sides and in the interest of fairness and respect cannot be breached”.

It also said Ms O’Leary and Ms Mullooly received no exit payments.

The Government is due to publish two reports commissioned by Ms Martin on the governance of RTE this month.