Today RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst will tell TDs and senators that the use of public funds on a failed IT project was “extremely regrettable” during a high-profile committee hearing today.
Speaking before the Oireachtas Committee on Media at 12.30pm, the RTÉ delegation – led by Bakhurst and including chairperson Terence O’Rourke – will become the first organisation to appear before the newly formed committee during this Dáil term. The session will be chaired by Labour Party TD Alan Kelly.
According to a news report by RTÉ itself, Bakhurst will say that the broadcaster has developed “a new strategy which commits to significant transformation of its working and financial model over the years ahead”.
Describing the failed IT system project, he will say that while the outcome was unacceptable, it was not typical of RTÉ’s overall spending approach and that “it was an outlier.”
RTÉ confirmed in April that it had written down €3.6 million in relation to the project, which was only partly successful. The initiative had been funded using money raised through the sale of RTÉ land in 2017.
The committee will also receive an update on the broadcaster’s handling of employment classifications, with Bakhurst expected to confirm payments made to settle the employment status of approximately 650 workers.
The appearance comes after earlier this month, RTÉ confirmed it had written down €3.6 million on a failed IT project, reigniting controversy around the broadcaster’s handling of public funds.
The issue emerged after the Department of Media asked agencies to submit details of capital projects over €500,000 that had been abandoned or failed to deliver. In its response, RTÉ listed 39 projects dating back to 2000, including an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system designed to upgrade its finance and HR operations.
Although the finance system eventually went live in 2023, the HR component was dropped.
The story gained momentum after The Currency obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information request. RTÉ later confirmed that Director General Kevin Bakhurst was not made aware of the write-down until March, despite the impairment appearing in financial statements from 2020 to 2023 and being discussed by the board.
The Department of Media said the State advisory body NewERA had queried the impairments in 2022 but did not raise concerns, citing a lack of detail in the information provided. RTÉ attributed the failure to disputes between suppliers, insufficient resources, and overambitious timelines. One supplier’s contract was terminated under a confidential agreement.
Minister Patrick O’Donovan met with Bakhurst in April and has since requested a detailed report. Though previously critical of RTÉ, the Minister has since voiced support for the current management, describing the write-down as “significant” but unintentional, and noting that it occurred before Bakhurst’s tenure.
All of this comes several years in the wake of sustained public scrutiny following the RTÉ payments scandal, which broke in June 2023. That controversy revealed that the national broadcaster had under-reported €345,000 in payments to its top presenter Ryan Tubridy between 2017 and 2022.
The money had been processed via a barter account, effectively concealing the true scale of his earnings. The revelation triggered parliamentary hearings, led to the resignations of Director General Dee Forbes and Board Chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh, and caused a widespread loss of public confidence.
Fallout from that scandal also contributed to a drop in TV licence fee payments, raising concerns over RTÉ’s long-term funding model.