RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst has confirmed that former Director of Strategy Rory Coveney received an exit payment when he stood down from his role last July.The statement suggests that Mr Coveney, who was one of the driving forces behind the loss making Toy Show: The Musical, received a payment worth a year's salary."Rory's role became redundant, an exit payment was offered by RTÉ and accepted by Rory, and with no backfill being made RTÉ will recoup that payment by July of this year," Mr Bakhurst said.There is no figure given for the amount paid to Mr Coveney, but as a member of the Executive Board, he was on a basic salary, before allowances, of at least €169,950 according to 2022 figures.However, this salary also includes an allowance of over €31,000 bringing the total annual payment to more than €200,000.Mr Bakhurst said after Mr Coveney's departure, responsibility for Strategy has passed to Adrian Lynch, with no additional compensation, in addition to his substantive role as Director of Audience, Channels and Marketing.He also confirmed that no exit payments were paid to senior executives former Director of Commercial Geraldine O'Leary and ex-Director of Legal Affairs Paula Mullooly who left RTE last year.Mr Bakhurst said RTÉ's former Chief Financial Officer Richard Collins departed RTÉ "by mutual agreement, with a binding confidentiality clause that was agreed to by both sides and in the interest of fairness and respect cannot be breached."His statement said: "As I have stated already, RTÉ has previously received legal advice that it is restricted from providing details regarding the departures of individuals from RTÉ."This advice was shared with both the Public Accounts Commitee and the Joint Oireachtas Committee."However, in the interests of transparency, I can clarify matters with regard to the exits of the four executives who departed RTÉ after I started as Director General, and I am doing so with their agreement."Geraldine O'Leary retired from RTÉ, and her role as Director of Commercial, and did not receive an exit payment."Paula Mullooly decided to leave RTÉ, and her role as Director of Legal Affairs, to pursue another opportunity and did not receive an exit payment."Rory Coveney and I agreed that it was best that he stand down from his role as Director of Strategy."This enabled the beginning of the restructuring of the leadership team and the suppression of his role."Mr Bakhurst added: "Responsibility for strategy has passed to Adrian Lynch, with no additional compensation, in addition to his substantive role as Director of Audience, Channels and Marketing."Rory's role became redundant, an exit payment was offered by RTÉ and accepted by Rory, and with no backfill being made RTÉ will recoup that payment by July of this year."Following independent mediation, Richard Collins, RTÉ's former Chief Financial Officer, departed RTÉ by mutual agreement, with a binding confidentiality clause that was agreed to by both sides and in the interest of fairness and respect cannot be breached."As I have said before, in relation to all the exits, I have sought an update to the legal advice previously received."Earlier this week, Mr Bakhurst confirmed that Ms O'Keeffe was paid €450,000 when she left the organisation.Mr Bakhurst told Joint Oireachtas Committee that he and "many people" within the broadcaster had no knowledge that Ms O'Keeffe had taken a voluntary exit package "until she said it in one of the committees".
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