The position of the remaining of the RTÉ board members is “no longer tenable” following the report into ‘Toy Show: The Musical,’ a Fine Gael TD has said.
The musical, which recorded €2.2 million in losses after a season in 2022, was the subject of controversy last year amid the RTÉ secret payment scandal. It was revealed that the performance cost €3 million to produce, was expected to sell 75,000 tickets over 54 shows. However, only 11,044 tickets were ultimately sold, with a further 9,000 or so being given to guests for free or handed out as competition prizes, meaning the musical led to a loss of millions of euros.
Today a Grant Thornton report on the musical commissioned by the RTÉ board was published, leading RTÉ Board Chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh to conclude that it confirmed “a significant lapse in oversight of the project” and “serious deficiencies” in how it was handled.
“The report finds that Board approval was required for Toy Show the Musical, and it also finds that the formal approval of the Board was neither sought nor provided for,” she said, adding: “…As Chair of the RTÉ Board I would like to apologise to the public and to the staff of RTÉ.”
Commenting on the report today, Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon, who serves on the Oireachtas Media Committee, has said that the position of the RTÉ board’s remaining members is “no longer tenable.”
“The whole expensive fiasco might one day indeed be made into a musical or on-stage production it is so farcical,” he said.
“The report today states, the RTÉ board who should have oversight of such affairs, did not have their approval for the project recorded.
“Board members, who are in senior positions of authority, did not seriously question the project or even why were they being asked just to rubber stamp it. They did not give it due diligence or interrogation.
“They asked a few questions and let it proceed and become the subsequent €2.2m flop it represented.”
Dillon went on to claim that it was “not credible” for the board to “claim ignorance” when board members were shown a presentation on the project.
“The report confirms that the entire executive team at RTÉ during this time was completely failing in their duties,” he said.
“The lack of a proper market research, risk assessment and a business plan underscores the complete failure in RTE’s accountability and governance. There’s a feeling that the board has been asleep when revelations of this kind are allowed to happen.”
He added: “A project of this size should have gone before the audit and risk committee. It’s not acceptable for the board to wash their hands of this.”
The Deputy further stated TV licence payers were “rightly” angered by the failure.
“Last year, RTÉ was refusing to hand over details relating to the Toy Show musical,” he said.
“Eventually, we got access to a briefing around the cost of production and the €2.2m losses it recorded. It was a spectacular flop and the TV licence payees should rightly be angered by what has happened.
“We have one casualty relating to this fiasco in the resignation of Rory Coveney, who signed off on this contract, and who was aware that decisions of this nature were made without formal oversight from the board.
“These findings underscore the urgent need for reform and accountability within RTÉ. The public deserves transparency and responsible governance from our national broadcaster.”
Dillon further stated that a second report would be examining staff severance deals at the broadcaster, and that he would be inquiring about RTÉ’s “ongoing inability to supply our Committee with a variety of requested information.”
“I believe it’s high time we sought additional dialogue with the RTÉ board – while they still remain – and top executives,” he said.
“We need to discuss recent developments and determine why the information we’ve asked for hasn’t been provided.”