The Oireachtas Media Committee has been told by a current RTÉ Board member that former Director General Dee Forbes and former Director of Strategy Rory Coveney "deliberately circumvented" established oversights in relation to Toy Show The Musical.RTÉ Board member Anne O'Leary also told the committee that the board had only received a financial update on Toy Show The Musical in May 2022 as part of "a pack", when tickets were "already on sale", she said.Representatives of RTÉ, including Director General Kevin Bakhurst and RTÉ Board chairperson Siún Ní Raghallaigh, are appearing before the Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media to answer questions about the transparency of expenditure, governance, and future funding of the organisation.Questioned during proceedings by Sinn Féin TD Imela Munster, who suggested that the board should have been "proactive" in chasing down information for something "of this magnitude", Ms O’Leary insisted that "we kept asking".She also rejected some of the deputy's criticism as being "a little unfair", adding: "There is a rigourous process in place in RTÉ about how projects are supposed to get approval for funding or not"."Rory Coveney and Dee Forbes deliberately circumvented that procedure," she said.Ms Forbes and Mr Coveney are among a number of people invited to address the committee but are not in attendance, alongside Geraldine O'Leary, Jim Jennings, Richard Collins, Conor Murphy, Moya Doherty and Ian Kehoe.RTÉ Deputy Director-General Adrian Lynch said that he had only learned today that Toy Show The Musical had not gone to the Audit and Risk Committee.When Mr Lynch went to see Toy Show The Musical in December 2022, he said that it had been clear to him that the project was in financial difficulty. It was the only time he went to the show.Fianna Fáil Senator Shane Cassells accused Mr Lynch and Mr Coveney of having been "bullish" in their defence of the show, during an appearance before the committee a year ago.He quoted Mr Coveney as having told the committee: "We are very proud of it." Mr Coveney had also insisted that it was "not a whim".Mr Bakhurst said that he took legal advice and was told no laws were broken in relation to Toy Show The Musical.He said that Ms Doherty has "not been very available", adding that her account of events would be "very helpful".Things were run in a "very ad hoc, loose and - in my view - often very unprofessional way", he said.Ms O'Leary said she had suggested using a smaller theatre like the Gaiety rather than the Convention Centre for Toy Show The Musical."So that was your question as the chair of the audit and risk committee?" Ms Munster asked.Ms O'Leary said that she had also asked: "When are we going to get the risk analysis? When are we going to get the financial model?"Asked when that risk analysis arrived, Ms O'Leary said: "It didn't"."I feel completely betrayed," Ms O'Leary said."I assumed that they were careful executives," she said, adding that she and her team "are part-time".Because Ms Forbes and former chief financial officer Richard Collins did not bring the necessary information to the Audit and Risk Committee, Ms O'Leary told Independent TD Mattie McGrath, "I do feel betrayed".Meanwhile, RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst "categorically" denied that advertising which urged people to pay the TV licence fee was deliberately pulled last year in order to collapse revenues to precipitate a decision on funding.He said ads were pulled last July given the "constant scandal" unfolding and he did not think it was appropriate to urge people to pay the fee."We were already worried about cashflow, that was the main motivator...It would have been tone deaf."Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin had asked whether the decision was strategic and done in the hope that fee income would completely collapse.Mr Bakhurst said it would have been disrespectful to the audience to run the ads and he said the decision was taken in consultation with the Department, An Post and was run by the board.The Director General also said that former presenter Ryan Tubridy had not repaid the €150,000 paid to him for events outstanding under a tripartite agreement, and there was no legal basis to recoup the money.Beginning proceedings, current board chairperson Siún Ní Raghallaigh told the committee the RTÉ Board should have asked more questions about Toy Show The Musical,Ms Ní Raghallaigh said that it is a source of regret for each member of the board that they did not rigorously interrogate the RTÉ Executive on an ongoing basis.She also sought to assure politicians that the governance structures in RTÉ have changed to ensure that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated.The board was not appropriately informed about the musical project as it was being developed, information was withheld from the board and significant contracts were committed to without the knowledge or approval of the full board, Ms Ní Raghallaigh said.She stated that risk assessment is now central to all decision making after Toy Show the Musical was not appropriately stress tested and external advice ignored.Earlier, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald accused some former RTÉ executives and board members of arrogance over their failure to attend the hearing.Speaking in the Dáil she said people are voting with their feet by not paying the TV licence and she reiterated her party's call to abolish the licence and replace it with direct exchequer funding.In response, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said there are significant problems in RTÉ where there was a culture of arrogance among some.There is a sense of entitlement too within the organsiation in that it believes it should receive all the TV licence money, he added.
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