Minister for Media Catherine Martin has said she told RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst of her "concern and frustration" at the ongoing row regarding exit packages at the broadcaster.In a statement following a meeting with Mr Bakhurst and Chair of the Board Siún Ní Raghallaigh, the minister asked Mr Bakhurst to "consider all possible options to bring further clarity and transparency".Today's meeting followed mounting political pressure on RTÉ to make public the details of payments to top executives who have left the organisation.Ms Martin said, in future, confidentiality agreements "should be avoided if at all possible" when severance is being agreed.Ms Martin also called for a cap on the level of settlements to be introduced, saying at higher levels it should be "the exception, not the norm".Earlier, Mr Bakhurst said he expects to have new legal advice "in the next couple of days" regarding the publication of details on the exit packages.However, speaking after meeting Minister Martin he added that RTÉ has "to respect the law".Mr Bakhurst said: "We spoke to external lawyers this morning about how far we can push transparency and what we can and what we can't say - and they've gone away to look at that and we should have the advice within the next couple of days."And off the back of that advice we'll be seeing how far we can push transparency about some of the questions that have been raised - mindful of, we have to respect the law as an organisation and also mindful of all employees' rights in RTÉ, which is always a maximum consideration for us."Asked whether he was going to resign, Mr Bakhurst said: "No absolutely not, I stand entirely by what I've done about trying to move the organisation forward with a new leadership team and make payments which are in the best interests and the best value for RTÉ."Speaking on RTÉ Drivetime this evening, Mr Bakhurst said it was disclosed at the time, in July 2023, that the then RTÉ director of strategy Rory Coveney did receive an exit package when leaving the organisation.He said he also stated to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee last year that he could not talk about individuals and that remains the legal advice.Mr Bakhurst said this is one of the reasons why RTÉ has sought updated legal advice to see if "there's any flexibility where we can be more transparent around some of the previous exit packages".However he said every employee "from top to bottom" at RTÉ has a right to privacy and confidentiality and that Irish employment law, and GDPR, need to be taken into account.There was confirmation at the weekend that former director of strategy Rory Coveney was paid what appears to have been a year's salary when he left RTÉ last July.Speaking on Drivetime, Mr Bakhurst said he could not talk about the amount of Mr Coveney's exit package but could discuss how it came about.Mr Bakhurst said a couple of days before he took up his position as DG in July 2023, Mr Coveney came to him and they discussed recent events at the national broadcaster, including around the failed Toy Show the Musical venture.He said Mr Coveney, who was then director of strategy, said he did not think it was "sustainable" that he stay in the role and Mr Bakhurst said he agreed.They agreed this would also give the incoming DG a chance to "refresh his leadership team".It then turned to on what terms Mr Coveney would leave, and Mr Bakhurst said there were "absolutely no grounds on which to sack Rory", who he said had served 16 years with RTÉ.Mr Bakhurst said there was always the option for Mr Coveney to take a case to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) for "wrongful dismissal", which through a mediation settlement he would have ended up with around two years' pay.However Mr Bakhurst said he took legal advice and advice from HR, and Mr Coveney took legal advice and they agreed on a sum which was "way less than that and avoided any legal costs quite quickly".Mr Bakhurst accepted that the loss-making Toy Show The Musical had been a "disaster" and said former Mr Coveney "admitted" that when they talked about.Mr Bakhurst said he took the decision to let Mr Coveney go, knowing that he would "close the Strategy role and therefore within a year we would save the money that we paid Rory" and that by July [2024] we will have recouped that money, and there would have been "zero cost to RTÉ licence fee payers".Mr Bakhurst said there was a difference between disclosing the amount of €450,000 received by the former chief financial officer Breda O'Keeffe and "some of the other exit packages"."There is a difference when you agree to a voluntary exit package because the terms of that are very well known, the maximum amount is very well known."He said Breda O'Keeffe had put the fact that she had signed up to that into the public domain herself, following which he commissioned the report into RTÉ exit packages, which has examined all of them, including hers - and this was an attempt to drive "maximum transparency".Earlier, chair of the Fine Gael parliamentary party Alan Dillon said RTÉ needs to publish the names of every senior executive who received an exit package since 2016 and the amount they received.The Mayo TD, who sits on both the Oireachtas Committee on Media and the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, said this level of transparency was "crucial" in the context of any future funding from the Government.Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he said that Mr Bakhurst cannot continue to argue that legal constraints prevent him from releasing the information."RTÉ needs to realise that this issue is certainly not going to go away until all details are published," he said.Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe described the recent revelations relating to RTÉ as "extremely corrosive" and "really concerning".Mr Donohoe said there needs to be "transparency regarding any arrangements or decisions that have been made".He said at a time in which RTÉ, and those who support the national broadcaster, are "trying to get on the front foot in making the case for the future of RTÉ and for its funding," he said it has been "another extremely corrosive number of days for RTÉ".He said the Government supports both Mr Bakhurst and Ms Siún Ní Raghallaigh in their work.Minister Donohoe said: "I have confidence in his [Kevin Bakhurst] ability to continue with his work but I still want to underline that the last number of days, the revelations that have emerged from the Oireachtas and elsewhere, are a real cause for concern."Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said he has "confidence in the Director General of RTÉ to do his job".However, he said while you can have confidence in people to do their job, "it doesn't mean you can't be critical of actions or in actions in recent days, the two are not mutually exclusive".He said Mr Bakhurst has "a very difficult job to do and he needs to do it and the Government wishes to support him in doing that".In recent days, the Taoiseach has called for greater clarity from RTÉ about the exit payments paid to senior executives who stepped aside from their roles.Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has insisted though that RTÉ must be more forthcoming with the full details of any such payments, adding that it is scandalous the way information has to be dragged from the organisation.The Chair of the Public Accounts Committee said that not only should RTÉ published the names of every senior executive who received an exit package since 2016, but what is also needed is the criteria, rationale, and justification for such payments.Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley said it is "extremely frustrating" as chairman of the PAC because he has repeatedly said since last year that RTÉ needs to "put all of the information up on the table, all payments, all of the arrangements that have been made that were all unusual arrangements, made in-house, so we could get a clear look at what was going on."Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, he said he wished Mr Bakhurst would appear again before the PAC as soon as possible so outstanding matters can be dealt with and the committee can issue a report and move on.Mr Stanley said it was Sinn Féin's position that RTÉ should be brought back under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General for auditing purposes, having been removed from that by legislation in the 1990s.
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