The Grant Thornton report on Toy Show: The Musical which was published by RTÉ yesterday reveals “serious failings” by the organisation, according to Media Minister Catherine Martin.
“The report into Toy Show The Musical, published by RTÉ yesterday, highlights serious failings in governance oversight, financial management and appropriate control procedures in relation to this project,” she said.
“It is further evidence of what appears to have been a dysfunctional relationship between the Executive and the Board in RTÉ at that time.”
In 2022, the musical faced a substantial financial shortfall, incurring losses of €2.2 million – a fact which was revealed amid the controversy of the RTÉ secret payment scandal last year.
The production, which had a budget of €3 million, anticipated selling around 75,000 tickets across 54 shows. However, a mere 11,044 tickets were sold in reality, resulting in the musical suffering a multimillion-euro loss.
Martin continued on to say that while this report relates “to a single project,” it would feed into other “expert reviews” which she commissioned last July.
“These reviews are examining wider issues at RTÉ, including corporate governance and the culture within the organisation,” she said.
“I expect to receive these reports at the end of next month. They will give much needed clarity on what went wrong at RTÉ in the past; and their recommendations will inform continued efforts to reform RTÉ and restore much-needed trust in the national broadcaster.”
She added RTÉ was “a fundamental part of our society and democracy,” and that the current board should remain in place.
“I believe that, for now, the current Board should remain in place to facilitate the proper day to day functioning of the organisation, to ensure the continuation of the process of reform and restoration of trust; and to enable ongoing accountability to, and scrutiny by, the Oireachtas,” she said.
“This will provide much-needed stability for RTÉ at this critical time as it prepares to finalise its strategy for the next five years. I believe that this is in the best interest of its staff and the organisation, as a whole.”
The news comes after Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon, who serves on the Oireachtas Media Committee, said that the position of the RTÉ board’s remaining members is “no longer tenable.”
"It was a spectacular flop, and the TV licence payers should rightly be angered by what has happened": A Fine Gael TD has said that the position of the remaining of the RTÉ board members is “no longer tenable” following a report on the Toy Show musical.https://t.co/mDKXIdKE2u
— gript (@griptmedia) January 25, 2024
“The whole expensive fiasco might one day indeed be made into a musical or on-stage production it is so farcical,” he said, adding: “…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.”
In the wake of the report’s release, RTÉ Board Chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh concluded that it confirmed “a significant lapse in oversight of the project” and “serious deficiencies” in how it was handled.