RTÉ controversies: Broadcaster ‘lost’ records relating to three years’ transactions in barter account, says report

Three reports examining governance, human resources and finances at RTÉ were published on Tuesday afternoon after being considered by Cabinet.

They include some extraordinary revelations, the most notable one being that RTÉ lost the records for three years of the infamous barter account. It also said problems with the barter account were “hiding in plain sight”.

The reports – commissioned by the Government following a series of controversies to hit RTÉ since last summer – pave the way for the Coalition to make a decision on how public service broadcasting will be funded into the future.

That decision will be made before the summer recess, according to the Minister for Communications Catherine Martin.

Ms Martin added: “The recommendations would require an approach to presenter pay that is transparent and consistent, fair clear and sustainable.

“They will bring further transparency on the remuneration of top earners in RTÉ both on air and off air. They will endow the RTÉ board with the authority skills to strategically direct RTÉ on behalf of and for the benefit of the public.

“Most importantly, they will ensure that the RTÉ leadership team is accountable to the RTÉ board and ultimately to the Oireachtas.

The review of contractor fees and human resources recommended that any future exit, severance or early retirement programmes be formally approved by the RTÉ board and that a financial cap is applied.

It is almost a year since the storm over undisclosed payments to former Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy unfolded, followed by revelations about corporate hospitality and exit packages for former RTÉ executives. The intervening months have seen a significant fall in TV licence receipts.

A report delivered by Prof Niamh Brennan has found multiple “compliance failings” in the national broadcaster and it sets out numerous governance and cultural issues that need to be addressed.

A second report carried out by a small group headed up by consultant Brendan McGinty, examined how RTÉ engages presenters and contractors.

The third report was carried out by accountancy firm Mazars which examined RTÉ's barter account, a form of trading account in which media groups use advertising slots to pay for certain goods and services. The first two reports make 90 recommendations, with 76 related to RTÉ.

Minister for Media Catherine Martin said last week that it is important that the recommendations are “positively received” by the national broadcaster.

It is expected that the broadcaster will be required to develop a plan to implement the recommendations within six weeks, which will be subject to oversight by the Department of Media.

Stay with us this afternoon for full coverage of the reports and reaction to them.

Main points

• RTÉ lost financial records relating to three years’ transactions in the infamous barter account during an office move. The records, according to a report published on Tuesday by accountancy firm Mazars, were kept in hard copy
• The board of RTÉ should have a “zero tolerance” approach to leaks at board or leadership team level, another report on governance and culture at the national broadcaster has recommended
• The company’s barter account was “hiding in plain sight”, the report found
• Any future exit proposed by RTÉ in future should be approved by the board and be subject to caps, a separate HR review found. Present pay should be reviewed, with pay bands introduced, consultant Brendan McGinty’s report found
• RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said the broadcaster needs to restore trust with the public and takes the finding of the report “very seriously”
• Minister Catherine Martin described the reports as “significant” and said that “if implemented in full”, they would improve governance, culture and industrial relations at the broadcaster

Key reads

• RTÉ controversies: New report finds multiple ‘compliance failings’ at broadcaster
• Reduced RTÉ licence fee under Revenue remit emerges as likely new funding model for broadcaster
• RTÉ findings should be ‘positively received’ by broadcaster, says Minister
• Catherine Martin to bring RTÉ funding plans to Cabinet ‘soon’
• What is a barter account? Meaning of term at centre of RTÉ Tubridy payments controversy

Here’s our wrap of today’s events as RTÉ and the Government consider the implications of the recommendations from the three reports. Thanks for reading.

So, is that the end of that? Don’t bet on it, Jack Horgan-Jones writes in his analysis piece of the day’s developments.

Some of the questions left to be answered: what does Catherine Martin prefer in terms of future funding? And what precisely will increased funding be for? How fast can the Government move on this? How fast does it want to?

There’s been a breakdown in relation to monies spent through the Barter account. Between 2017 and 2022, RTÉ spent €409,150 in client entertainment, €230,760 in talent agency payments and flights and hotels cost €222,283.

RTÉ events and societies including media awards events, RTÉ golf event, new season launches, society events, Irish sponsorship awards and rugby legends dinner was €161,121.

The “Renault event” cost €68,891. Office purchases including a toaster for the commercial division’s office was €12,894, charity and donations was €41,271 and transport/coach hire was €10,809.

Political correspondent Cormac McQuinn reports:

Minister for Media Catherine Martin has said that a mooted hybrid model for funding public service broadcasting involving licence fee collection and some exchequer funding has not been recommended to her and she cautioned: “we have to be careful you don’t end up with the worst of both worlds”.

Ms Martin has favoured direct exchequer funding as a means of funding public service broadcasting as recommended by the Future of Media Commission.

In recent days the Irish Times has reported that the emerging likely outcome of the government’s considerations is a reduction of the €160 licence, with the new fee to be collected by the Revenue Commissioners accompanied by some – at least short-term – exchequer funding.

However, Ms Martin strongly signaled that she still favours direct exchequer funding during a press conference on Tuesday.

She said: “We’re down to, in my opinion, two models - either revenue-collected or the exchequer funded model.”

Ms Martin said she sees “risks with every model” but added: “I do believe what the Future of Media Commission has recommended originally has great merit, more so now in light of what emerged in RTÉ... I do believe safeguards can be put in place but this is very much still up for discussion.”

She said there are “differences of opinion but we are absolutely united at Cabinet that the decision [on funding] will be taken before the summer.”

From political correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones:

The Mazars team met with similar obstacles to the Oireachtas committees investigating RTÉ – including the unavailability of key personnel, such as Dee Forbes, former Chief Financial Officer Breda O’Keeffe and two former group financial controllers.

Mazars found the process around setting up the barter accounts, which occurred against the backdrop of financial pressures in the teeth of the recession in 2012, was also wanting. It outlines that while there was a validity to the rationale to set up the structures, there was no “formal business case, risk assessment or financial projections” associated with the decisions. There was no governance structure, internal controls or operational process designed or documented or approved at an appropriate level.

When it comes to the accounting treatment of barter transactions, it finds that even though RTÉ had access to the correct approach since inception, responsibility for the decision “was not taken at the appropriate level and the initial (incorrect) accounting treatment adopted was not subject to adequate challenge and scrutiny”.

The report also raises issues with both internal and external audit functions when it comes to the barter account, with internal audit not having examined or queried the governance or operation of the barter account – “primarily due to the function [internal audit] not being aware of the existence of the barter account”. It says the existence of the account does not appear to have ben disclosed during discussions with members of the management team of the commercial division.

RTÉ's external auditors, for their part, were not aware of the barter account in 2017 but did know of transactions in 2019, 2020 and 2021 but considered that the risk to the integrity of the broadcaster’s financial statements as a whole was remote. The auditors did raise additional inquiries during the 2022 audit due to increased values on the account. Mazars found ultimately this approach was “appropriate”.

However, prior to the 2022 audit, the Mazars report outlines that the accounting treatment of trade credit balances in the barter account “do not appear to have been the subject of challenge or enquiry by RTÉ or their appointed external auditors”. The omission of purchases and these balances for periods “reflects an incorrect accounting treatment and/or policy applied by RTÉ,” according to Mazars.

The firm identified some “unreconciled differences” within the barter accounts which “RTÉ could not fully explain or resolve”.

It outlines that while some purchase transactions were sent to the DG’s office for approval, “no clear threshold was in place for this and formal records of approvals were mostly not available”.

RTÉ's records of purchases “contained many gaps” which led to a reliance on statements of purchases provided by barter media agencies. Supporting evidence relating to the purchases “was not stored by RTÉ in an easily accessible manner” and Mazars said that overall record keeping was “not adequate” for 2017-2019.

“This placed significant limitations on our ability to satisfy ourselves as to the accuracy, completeness and validity of barter purchases for the period under review,” the firm found. It was unable to validate barter purchases of €284,000 to supporting invoices and could’t confirm booking form approvals for €110,000 of barter purchases.

RTÉ didn’t account for barter purchases amounting to €418,000, most covering 2017-2018. It did find, however, that where supporting documents were available, they were in line with the firm’s understanding of commercial needs for client hospitality and other items.

With regard to Tubridy payments, Mazars found that they should not have been called ‘consultancy fees’, and outlines that it found several emails suggesting that the commercial financial controller at RTÉ had raised queries about the nature of the invoices, the type of consultancy and who they related to. No written reply was found in relation to this.

It concludes that the barter account was “essentially managed as an additional budget” available to the commercial division for primarily travel, accommodation and client hospitality, that it was not subject to expected financial controls and the oversight system was not adequately designed. Mazars “saw no evidence that the barter account had been the subject of any inquries by the Board of RTÉ, the internal auditor or external auditors” with one exception, when the external auditor queired the 2022 year end process.

The National Union of Journalists has responded to the three external reports. It said its members will consider the implications.

Séamus Dooley, Irish Secretary has warned that the timescale proposed for full acceptance of the recommendations is unrealistic given the breadth and depth of the reports.

He said: “The NUJ has long demanded fairness and equality in the treatment of all staff – on and off air and at every level. The recommendation that presenter pay should be based on the principles of “transparency, consistency, fairness, clarity, and sustainability” is an important cornerstone of the HR report.

“Terms and conditions of employment are subject to collective agreements and are covered by contracts. There will need to be detailed negotiations on the recommended introduction of new pay structures based on Civil Service schemes and on how these schemes can be adapted to suit a vastly different type of organisation.

“The number of allowances in RTÉ and the variety of payments is a reflection of the complex nature of the organisation. Frequently, allowances have been used as grace and favour style increases for individuals. Greater clarity is needed on allowances while the recommendations on contracts and the reform of how recruitment panels are used should certainly be taken on board.”

Mr Dooley said the RTÉ trade union group met the HR group and expressed “grave concern” at the way the HR function within RTÉ had been consistently sidelined.

“Agreements and procedures were set aside, and corporate convenience trumped adherence to IR norms,” he stated.

“I welcome the acknowledgment that RTÉ needs to do better and to put HR at the heart of the organisation. No number of slogans or changing of department titles will improve the organisation if there is not a change in the culture around employee relations and this is clearly recognised in the report.

“The shadow of bogus self-employment has long lingered over RTÉ and the HR review has provided a roadmap for how this should be urgently addressed.”

The appointment of a third party to assist RTÉ and the Department of Social Protection to navigate this issue must be given immediate priority against the backdrop of the recent Supreme Court case in The Revenue Commissioners v. Karshan (Midlands) Ltd. t/a Domino’s Pizza.[1]

“Bogus self-employment did not occur in a vacuum and is not confined to RTÉ. The employer first principle adopted by RTÉ must become a reality and the overreliance on irregular contracts and unorthodox arrangements must be consigned to the same bin as corporate mismanagement and shortcomings.”

He expressed concern at the six-week delay in Government approval of a new funding model which will not be made until the middle of the summer when the Dáil rises for the summer holidays.

“At every stage in this process deadlines have been missed, and I am fearful that the uncertainty will continue. That cannot be allowed to happen, and we now need a full commitment on the part of Government to address the funding issue,” he said.

“Trade unions will enter into negotiations in good faith and RTÉ must use the established IR structures to achieve the changes needed.”

Ms Martin said the Government will make a decision before the summer recess on the future funding model for RTÉ to put it on a sustainable footing.

Since the scandal over undisclosed payments made to Ryan Tubridy broke last summer, RTÉ has lost millions in licence fee money and has repeatedly stated that the current hybrid model of licence fee and advertising cannot continue.

Ms Martin said she intends to release the first tranche of €40 million in additional Exchequer resources allocated to RTÉ this year and the second tranche “will be subject to a satisfactory assessment of RTÉ's updates on the implementation of the plan by my Department and the further agreement of the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.”

In a statement the minister said the reports published today will ensure a “regulatory model capable of both ensuring its independence from Government and assessing its performance.

“Bringing forward a robust implementation plan will also therefore be a prerequisite for the Government making a decision before the Summer recess on the future funding model for public service broadcasting. I have signalled my determination to do so, not just to finally put RTÉ on a sustainable footing, but to underpin trustworthy news and Irish content right across the audiovisual sector.”

She said the reports on Toy Show The Musical and RTÉ's 2017 and 2021 voluntary exit programmes published earlier this year “brought to light, in considerable detail, more governance failures in RTÉ”.

Mazars final report which includes the results of a detailed examination of every transaction made through the barter account from 2017 to 2022, provides “further evidence of poor governance,” she stated.

She will be writing to the RTÉ Chair regarding the findings of Mazars report and to seek a review of hospitality and travel and subsistence expenditure reported to Ministers over the period 2017 to 2022.

She continued: “The 116 recommendations made by the Expert Advisory Committees are a blueprint for the further reform of RTÉ. If they are implemented in full, I am confident that they will improve the governance of RTÉ, both internally and externally, and ensure that the culture of the organisation better reflects the values of public service broadcasting that are so clearly demonstrated by RTÉ staff every day.

“The reviews point the way to a more inclusive, transparent and accountable organisation, one that truly has the character of a public service. Their recommendations will require an approach to presenter pay that is transparent, consistent, fair, clear and sustainable.

“They will bring further transparency on the remuneration of top earners in RTÉ, both on-air and off-air. They will endow the RTÉ board with the authority and skills to strategically direct RTÉ on behalf of and for the benefit of the public. Most importantly, they will ensure that the RTÉ leadership team is accountable to the RTÉ board and ultimately to the Oireachtas.

“To that end, I have asked RTÉ to prepare an implementation plan for submission to my Department within six weeks, setting out detailed actions and timelines. I spoke to the Chair of the RTÉ board and the Director General and they have assured me that RTÉ accepts the recommendations of the committees in principle and that they are fully committed to the process of implementation.”

She said the proposal to reinstate the Comptroller and Auditor General to RTÉ has been one that she has been considering since the crisis in RTÉ first emerged.

The Independent Review of Contractor Fees, Human Resources (HR) and other matters in RTÉ, led by consultant Brendan McGinty, makes 26 recommendations.

Among the recommendations are:

Political correspondent Jack Horgan-Jones reports:

RTÉ lost financial records relating to three years’ transactions in the infamous barter account during an office move. The records, according to a report published on Tuesday by accountancy firm Mazars, were kept in hard copy.

The use of the barter account to pay undisclosed fees to former star presenter Ryan Tubridy, as well as for corporate entertainment and party supplies, came to light during the controversy which erupted at the broadcaster last year.

The Mazars report commissioned by the Government outlines that where access to adequate supporting documentation was possible, it identified that there was a business purpose for all purchases.

“We note however the substantial deficit in RTÉ's record keeping ... and that this placed significant restriction on our ability to adequately consider the business purposes for all barter transactions.”

RTÉ advised that a hard copy folder that was maintained for the barter purchases was lost during an office move which RTÉ advised is a key reason why there was a deficit in RTÉ's record keeping for these purchases in respect of the period from 2017 to 2019,” the report states.

The report outlines a series of governance and oversight failings in the management of the barter account, including that a formal approval process for barter purchases did not exist, with most sanctions occurring verbally. The responsibility for approving and oversight of purchases lay with the broadcaster’s commercial director – most recently, Geraldine O’Leary, who retired from the organisation last year.

Mazars found that the barter account was “essentially managed as an additional budget which was available to the commercial division for primarily travel, accommodation and client hospitality purchases”. However, it “was not subjected to expected financial controls and the system in place to support barter purchasing transactions was not adequately designed”.

It outlines that the records for the account were not adequately maintained and the reconciliation and oversight of the system “could not have functioned effectively,” with “significant gaps in available documentation in support of barter purchases”. This includes 34 per cent of invoices/receipts and 17 per cent of signed booking forms.

The report finds that several high-profile transactions which came to light across the many months of controversy had “no valid basis” for being paid through the barter account, including €150,000 paid to Mr Tubridy, €44,000 paid for Renault events classified as “audience research”, as well as several payments where the basis for approval was “not clear”.

These included €480 for a chauffeur, €5,375 in membership payments to London’s Soho House club, €73,000 for payments relating to the Rugby World Cup in Japan and an additional €20,000 for tickets for same, €19,000 for the Champions League final in Madrid and €4,603 relating to an Ireland football match in Gibraltar.

“Th majority of the barter purchases that we have highlighted were directly approved by the former Commercial Director [Ms O’Leary] and/or the former Director General [Dee Forbes],” the report finds. It finds internal controls were not adequate, and that there was a “lack of clear oversight” of the purchasing process which was also not “subject of inquiry by the board of RTÉ.”

It concludes that RTÉ “incorrectly excluded barter account transactions from its financial statements” including €418,000 of purchases primarily relating to 2017 and 2018, and trade credit balances between €243,000 and €572,000 not captured on the balance sheet between 2017 and 2021.

It finds that in its report to the Minister, RTÉ “incorrectly omitted certain barter purchases from this annual disclosure amounting to €654,000″, seemingly as a result of not initially not accounting for barter purchases and then by misclassifying them.

The cost of the various reports so far is understood to stand at €574,000 though some invoices remain outstanding.

It is estimated that the final cost of the reports will be close to €1 million.

Colm Keena reports:

The board of RTÉ should have a “zero tolerance” approach to leaks at board or leadership team level, the report on governance and culture at the national broadcaster has recommended.

The report says a lack of trust between the board and the former executive board was one of the cultural issues that contributed to the crisis at the station.

“Some board members told us that they did not believe executives considered they were accountable to the board. In contrast, some of executives we spoke to, perhaps unfairly, thought the board a possible source of previous leaks of confidential information.”

It said the board should commission “rigorous enquiries” in the event of the leaking of confidential information and have “zero tolerance” of leaks from either the board or the Interim Leadership Team so a culture of trust between the board and Interim Leadership Team is not undermined.

“The perceived threat of leaks may have contributed to the lack of transparency in RTÉ executives’ dealings with the board,” it says.

RTÉ paid out €4 million in compensation to key management personal in 2023 in comparison with €3.3 million in 2022.

This consisted of salaries and other short-term employee benefits of €2.9 million (2022: €2.6 million), post-employment pension benefits of €400,000 (2022: €400,000) and termination benefits of €700,000 in comparison with €300,000 in 2022.

RTÉ has welcomed the publication of three reports and has accepted principle the recommendations made in the two Expert Advisory Committee Reports.

RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said the broadcaster needs to restore trust with the public and takes the finding of the report “very seriously”.

It has published the total amount of compensation paid to key management personnel in 2023, usually reported in RTÉ's annual reports. The termination benefit amount includes legal fees.

He continued: “The events of last year are a source of deep frustration and disappointment to all of us in RTÉ and those connected to this organisation. We have already undertaken major reform of RTÉ and addressed many of the recommendations included in the reports and we are committed to continuing on this process of reform, now with the benefit of recommendations set out in the reports today. We will respond formally and in full when we have taken time to give the reports full consideration.

“I would like to thank everyone who has continued to support RTÉ by paying their TV Licence and I would also like to acknowledge our employees and partners in the independent sector for their ongoing dedication and commitment to delivering important and engaging public service programming and content to audiences, every single day, across RTÉ's television, radio and online services during a very challenging period.”

RTÉ board chairman Terence O’Rourke, said: “RTÉ has supported both Expert Advisory Committees and Mazars in their work and we welcome the publication of their reports by Government today. Their analyses and their recommendations, all of which we accept in principle, will make a significant contribution to the task of rebuilding trust in RTÉ. RTÉ is tasked with providing a vital public service.

“The organisation’s corporate governance, transparency and operations must be of a standard commensurate with that mandate. The board is focused on returning RTÉ to levels of corporate governance and transparency that should define it. We look forward to working with Government, staff in RTÉ and all our stakeholders, in delivering the process of transformation that commenced last year.”

RTÉ has found that scrutiny of remuneration was affected by the acceptance of “no visibility” in relation to top earners’ pay, writes Colm Keena.

It has also pointed out errors in the national broadcaster’s annual reports and raised questions about the practices of the former Director General, Dee Forbes.

“RTÉ's board scrutiny of remuneration in particular was limited through its acceptance of no visibility of Top On-Air Talent pay, compounded by our finding no evidence of the Remuneration and Management Development Committee meeting in 2020-2022 (contrary to statements in RTÉ's annual reports), and terms of reference which confined it to a “consultative” role,” the report says.

“With the exception of Toy Show The Musical, critical decisions on the key issues that have arisen.. were made outside the forum of the former executive board, which appears to have operated primarily for executives, but not the former Director General [Dee Forbes], to inform colleagues of developments in their areas.

“There is limited evidence of the former Director General informing her colleagues of other developments in the organisation as a whole.”

Ms Forbes, who resigned with immediate effect at the outset of the controversy over public disclosure of payments to Ryan Tubridy, has not appeared before either of the Oireachtas committees that have held hearings into RTÉ, for health reasons.

Ms Martin has also published the final report of the forensic accountant, Mazars, appointed to examine the barter account and identify any other off-balance sheet accounts in RTÉ.

The report confirms that the barter account and contra transactions are now recorded correctly in RTÉ's financial statements.

It formally identifies a number of barter transactions which had no valid basis; an finds that hospitality and travel and subsistence expenditure made through the barter account was underreported to Ministers by RTÉ over the period 2017-2022.

On foot of the report, Minister Martin will write to the Chair of the RTÉ board seeking detailed clarification and assurances regarding the governance and operation of the RTÉ barter account and RTÉ's contra transactions and the reporting of travel and subsistence and hospitality expenditure over the period 2017-2022 and in the forthcoming (2023) reporting period.

Colm Keena reports:

RTE’s barter account system was “hiding in plain sight” a review of governance and culture in the national broadcaster has concluded.

Referring to the system whereby RTÉ sold airtime for cash and/or credits that RTÉ could use to buy goods and services, the report says the use of such accounts is standard in the industry but that RTÉ's barter accounts operated off-balance sheet, outside RTÉ's normal financial and budgetary controls, and were used to defray hospitality expenditure that was not within RTÉ budget limits.

“Both RTÉ's board and Internal Audit Function have informed us that they were not aware of the existence of the barter accounts, albeit we note that RTÉ has previously acknowledged the use of barter agency accounts in its response to a request for information on expenditure for entertaining at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan,” the report says.

“As such, we consider that the barter accounts were ‘hiding in plain sight’.”

The Minister for Communications Catherine Martin has commented on the report: “I have today published two landmark reviews into RTÉ. These reports are significant, as they are the first reports, since the crisis emerged in RTÉ, which contain recommendations. The 116 recommendations made by the Expert Advisory Committees are a blueprint for the further reform of RTÉ.

“If implemented in full, they will improve the governance of RTÉ, both internally and externally, ensure the culture of RTÉ better reflects the values of public service held by its staff, and improve both the industrial relations landscape and human resources processes and procedures. The recommendations point the way to a more inclusive, transparent and accountable RTÉ, one that truly has the character of a public service.

“I would like to thank the members of the Expert Advisory Committees for giving so much of their time and expertise to produce these reviews.

“I will begin work immediately to implement those recommendations which require action by my Department. As part of this, I intend to prepare and bring detailed proposals to Government to reform the legislation governing RTÉ, including to assign the Comptroller and Auditor General as auditor of RTÉ.”

The review of governance and culture was carried out by Professor Niamh Brennan and included a review of contractor fees and other matters.

Professor Brennan said: “Given its important role in Irish society and as a State body, it is vital that RTÉ has an effective system of governance. Our Review has identified areas of RTÉ's governance that require improvement.

We have made a comprehensive series of recommendations to reform RTÉ's governance and to minimise the possibility of a recurrence of the issues that have arisen.”

Chair of the Expert Advisory Committee on Contractor Fees, HR and Other Matters, Brendan McGinty, said: “While many strategic and operational challenges are still to be confronted by RTÉ, our recommendations will enable the essential conditions for more inclusive engagement, transparency and accountability across RTÉ.

“It is our express intention that if the recommendations are accepted and implemented, and as RTÉ builds a sustainable future with the support and trust of staff, the high standards of governance, leadership, and management practice that are expected of RTÉ can be fully observed and help to restore those standards and public trust.”

The reviews have just been published and have no less than 116 recommendations. Among them are the following

• Assign the Comptroller and Auditor General as auditor of RTÉ
• Modernise the legislation governing the role of the RTÉ board
• Improve and resource the risk and compliance functions within RTÉ
• Require RTÉ to include a financial or formula cap in any future exit scheme
• Reform the approach to engaging and paying presenters
• Improve the functioning of the RTÉ board and its committees
• Ensure greater transparency for higher executive pay
• Improve the accountability of the Director General to the RTÉ board
• Strengthen the implementation of gender, equality, diversity and inclusion policies in RTÉ
• Ensure the review of roles and grades and forthcoming review of allowances in RTÉ are effective, transparent and include consultation with employees

Also speaking on his way into Cabinet, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath said it is important that RTÉ is “given a reasonable opportunity over the coming weeks to consider the reports – because there are many recommendations contained within them – and then to come back with their response”.

He said the RTÉ response “will inform and shape the Government decision that will then be made in relation to a sustainable funding basis for the organisation into the future.”

Mr McGrath added: “We do have to move beyond report after report after report.

“It is time now for actual decisions, both by RTÉ, and action, and then decisions by Government.

“And once we have the considered position of RTÉ in relation to the content of the reports the Government will not shirk its responsibility to make a decision over the weeks ahead.”

A reduction of the €160 licence, with the new fee to be collected by the Revenue Commissioners accompanied by some – at least short-term – exchequer funding has been emerging as the likely outcome of the Government’s considerations.

Mr McGrath did not say where he stood on such proposals.

He said: “I think it’s too early to give a definitive view on that.

“There will be a collective discussion and decision.

“People will come into that process with different views that have already been well ventilated.

“But we will come to a collective decision that will ensure there is a sustainable funding basis for RTÉ and indeed for others who provide public service broadcasting and content into the future.

“The precise make-up of that has yet to be determined and I look forward to that discussion.”

Political reporter Cormac McQuinn reports:

The release of contingency funding to RTÉ will be dependent on the broadcaster accepting the recommendations of reports on its governance and human resources, Taoiseach Simon Harris has said.

He was speaking before a Cabinet meeting which was set to consider three reports on issues that have arisen at RTÉ amid a series of controversies at the national broadcaster.

The Government last year agreed a contingency funding package of €56 million for RTÉ but some €20 million of this was awaiting the outcome of the reports commissioned by the Coalition.

Mr Harris said he believes the three reports – two of which contain recommendations – “very much provide a pathway forward after many, many months of difficult sagas and revelations in relation to RTÉ.”

Asked by reporters if the release of contingency funding will be dependent on RTÉ acceptance of the recommendations in the reports Mr Harris replied: “it will”.

He said: “We need to see very quickly is a swift acceptance by Government of any recommendations that relate to Government and a swift acceptance by RTÉ of any recommendations that relate to RTÉ.

“I’ve said for quite a period of time now that these reports will really be the moment the rubber hits the road in terms of RTÉ demonstrating its commitment to the changes that it needs to undertake.

“I stand by that comment this afternoon.

“I think what we’ll need to see and what I hope we’ll see is a very quick acceptance by RTÉ management of all of the recommendations and then intense work over the next few weeks to deliver an implementation plan, an action plan, that Government and the people of Ireland will be able to monitor delivery on.”