Minister for Media Catherine Martin has said she is "deeply disappointed" to learn that the RTÉ Board had approved an exit package for former chief financial officer Richard Collins.Ms Martin refused to express confidence in Siún Ní Raghallaigh and has summoned her to a meeting tomorrow morning.When asked on RTÉ's Prime Time if she was going to remove Ms Ní Raghallaigh from her position, the minister responded: "I have to give everything consideration but again, I need to hear from her first, it is only right and fair that she explains the situation to me."She said she had twice been reassured by Ms Ní Raghallaigh that the board had no role whatsoever in approving either of the two most recent exit packages.Ms Martin said: "However, this morning, in a communication through my officials it was made known to me that the package for Richard Collins went before the Remuneration Committee so there was a process there where the Board had approval."She added: "I am deeply disappointed with this and I have asked to meet the Chair tomorrow to discuss this."Ms Martin said she would like to say that Ms Ní Raghallaigh has done "incredible work since she came on as Chair, especially since this crisis erupted and I want to acknowledge that but I do feel I need to meet [her] to talk through how exactly this arose, how I could have been misinformed on two occasions".Asked if she had lost confidence in the chair, she replied: "As I have said already, I am deeply disappointed" but she said it is only right that "Siún...is afforded the opportunity to talk to me so I won't comment further."Ms Martin said that her Department was not aware of the details of the exit packages.Richard Collins resigned in October 2023."The law applies to us as to any other person, so if there is a confidentiality agreement, I cannot be in possession of that knowledge," she said.Ms Martin said the legal advice given to RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst had been clear in regards to the severance deals but "going forward we need to ensure maximum transparency in RTÉ and that is why I have asked him to look at the confidentiality clauses, they should certainly be the exception, not the norm"."Also looking at possibly capping such packages if they were needed," she added.Ms Martin said she asked Mr Bakhurst to try to seek maximum transparency by asking the individuals if they would waive the confidentiality clause and "we wait to see what the response is".Earlier today, Mr Bakhurst said discussing exit packages provided to executives who left the broadcaster last year were "fair but also provided good value to RTÉ".Mr Bakhurst said: "One thing the report confirmed from the external legal advisers was that the agreements we reached in their view did provide the best possible financial value, commercial value to RTÉ."This morning RTÉ published updated legal advice in relation to the publication of the exit packages which stated the release of such figures "would contravene employees' contractual and statutory rights, thereby exposing RTÉ to avoidable legal challenge".Mr Bakhurst informed Ms Martin that the organisation has written to former members of the executive, who departed since 2016, requesting their consent to waive their right to confidentiality.Mr Bakhurst said the legal advice confirmed that confidentiality agreements "are very common across Ireland in semi-states, commercial organisations and public bodies".He said he could not guarantee such agreements would not be reached in the future.Regarding letters sent to individuals regarding the confidentiality agreements, Mr Bakhurst said: "If they themselves want to lift the confidentiality agreements then we will be able to publish those details and we would intend on doing so."He said responses will be received in "due course" adding that he "wouldn't necessarily expect a stampede".He said the letters were an effort to lift the confidentiality agreements."I don’t want to raise expectations because when people are given confidentiality agreements they’re arrived at in good faith as part of a legal deal," he said.He said such agreements were a "very standard part of a legal process to exit people from an organisation".RTÉ is set to bring forward the publication of an aggregate statement of termination benefits paid to key management personnel in 2023 after its updated legal advice stated that a breach of confidentiality agreements would be a criminal offence.This figure relates to the overall amount of money in exit deals for individuals who had authority and responsibility for planning, directing and controlling the activities of the broadcaster.Ms Martin said the updated legal advice made clear that "confidentiality provisions within these termination agreements are binding on all parties"."Accordingly, they cannot be unilaterally breached by RTÉ without significant legal and financial risk to the organisation," she said.Ms Martin added that she "once again impressed upon the Chair and the DG, that such termination packages should be the exception rather than the norm in the organisation; and that a cap on the levels of settlements should also be considered from here on out"."The DG has committed to fully examine these proposals," she said.Earlier today, Mr Bakhurst said he "doesn't see an issue" with two staff members who worked for RTÉ, also working on Toy Show the Musical "on the basis they got permission".He was speaking as the broadcaster confirmed that two producer/directors who worked for RTÉ television were both further contracted by the station to work as writers on the controversial musical.RTÉ said in a statement that Jane Murphy and Katherine Drohan were paid separately to their staff work for writing work on the musical that took place in 2020, 2021 and 2022.They were paid by RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Designated Activity Company which is a wholly owned subsidiary of RTÉ and which funded the Toy Show the Musical project.Speaking on RTÉ's Six One, Mr Bakhurst said he thought it was widely known at the time that the two women were doing both jobs."As far as I'm concerned the two individuals involved were carrying on doing their RTÉ work. I'm told they were in their spare time working on Toy Show the Musical," he said."I understand they worked extremely hard over a period of time on it," Mr Bakhurst added.He described the two staff members as "extremely talented" adding they are not "at the most senior level of the organisation"."I think it's quite unfortunate and a little bit unfair to have a renewed focus back on those individuals to be brutally honest," he said.It is understood that both staff members were full-time producers on the Late Late Show during the period in question and the writing work was done outside of their normal staff working hours across the three years.A Revenue list, published on its website, confirms that both women were granted artists' tax exemptions for work on Toy Show the Musical.If Revenue determines that a piece of work qualifies for the exemption, the artist can earn up to €50,000 a year from that work before they have to pay tax on the income.A recent report about the musical, which lost €2.27m, found that the RTÉ Board approval was required for Toy Show the Musical but that the formal approval of the board was neither sought nor provided for.Meanwhile, chair of the Oireachtas Media Committee Niamh Smyth said the updated legal advice on exit packages underlines the importance of avoiding non-disclosure agreements in the future.Ms Smyth said it was still her preference that RTÉ would publish individual exit payments it made to former executives.The committee explored whether legal privilege inside the committee room would offer sufficient protection to RTÉ witnesses to disclose further exit payment information.However, the conclusion was that it would not.The media committee is now exploring whether other witnesses, who have not attended yet due to illness, could engage with the committee in other ways such as via video call or written statements.Sinn Féin's Brian Stanley, who chairs the PAC, welcomed the publication of legal advice to RTÉ.He said that while the advice warns of legal consequences for RTÉ if it were to publish exit deals, this does not prevent recipients of such deals from waiving their anonymity and making the figures available.Mr Stanley also welcomed a decision by Mr Bakhurst to bring forward the publication of aggregate figures relating to termination benefits paid to "key management personnel" in 2023.He said there needs to be clear criteria for future exit deals, that are transparent and apply to all levels of staff.The PAC is still seeking to have its powers extended to continue its examination of the management of RTÉ's finances.However, these powers were not granted yesterday when the matter came before the Dáil Committee on Procedures and Privileges.The PAC has to decide if it will move to finalise its written report on the RTÉ controversy or if it should continue to push to have its remit extended.Regarding concerns around a duplication of the RTÉ witnesses attending both the Oireachtas Media Committee and PAC, which were raised by media committee chair Ms Smyth, Mr Stanley said that he was "not getting into a row" over the issue."That's not what we're here for and that's not what I'm interested in," he said.Mr Stanley added that politicians needed to get to a position where a "line can be drawn", in relation to the controversy.It comes as last night, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar indicated that the Government is considering bringing RTÉ under the remit of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG).The proposal has also been advocated by Minister Martin.The C&AG audits the accounts of Government departments and State bodies to ensure public funds are well managed.
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