It’s been a difficult 12 months or so for RTÉ, and the board in particular has been in the spotlight in a way that no company board – public or private – would ever really want to be.
So it’s probably no surprise really that the broadcaster has tendered for a contract to provide public relations to the board at a cost of €375,000.
“RTÉ invites submissions, from suitably qualified tenderers to supply public relations and public affairs consultancy services for RTÉ,” according to an advertisement published on the State tenders website. “These services range from training to consumer activities,” it added.
Tenders for the three-year contract are due in early August, according to the notice.
[ Ministers and officials discuss hybrid funding model for RTÉOpens in new window ]
An RTÉ spokesman confirmed the contract related to providing PR advice to the RTÉ board only. The 12-person board is innately political, with 10 coming through either Minister for Media Catherine Martin’s nomination or the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Culture, Media and the Arts.
In a sense, a contract like this is a terrific example of the potential hassle of being involved with a State entity, or anything that might involve taxpayers’ money. In general terms, State boards are, from the outside at least, relatively sedate affairs. They don’t pay the same sort of fees that private companies pay but are usually well-known names and can provide something of a halo effect across a board member or consultants working with them.
That’s all fine though right up to the moment where things blow up – and they have blown up at RTÉ in spectacular fashion. From the Ryan Tubridy debacle to the very public search for a new director general, the RTÉ board has been in the spotlight in a way practically nobody could have foreseen three years ago.
Whoever does win the contract will most likely have their work cut out for the next while.
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