The RTÉ leadership team has told an Oireachtas committee that they had no knowledge of a €3.6 million write-down over a partly failed IT project until February of this year.In April, RTÉ confirmed that it had written down €3.6 million on the IT system, which was one of the projects funded from the proceeds of the sale of land at its Dublin site in 2017.RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst told the members of the Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport Committee that measures have been implemented to ensure that this does not happen again.Mr Bakhurst said a system has been introduced where "a monthly list of capital projects is brought into the leadership team, so we are all aware of the projects which hasn't been done before," adding that "before there would have been silos".He said "nothing was hidden with this issue" and pointed out again that the events leading up to the write-down happened prior to his appointment as Director General.He said big IT projects can go wrong and that he had sought to establish how RTÉ responded.He told Sinn Féin TD Joanna Byrne that he had not thought of whether the write-down would have broken new regulations.She expressed disappointment that he had not looked at it this way.Ms Tríona Quill, Assistant Secretary, Media and Broadcasting Division, Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media said New Era were told in 2023 there was "an impairment in relation to intangible assets".They were not given further detail, she said.Meanwhile, Feargal Ó Coigligh, Secretary General at the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media said: "No red flag was raised with the department in relation to it," by New Era or RTÉ."That wouldn't happen today because of improved systems," he added.Senator Garret Ahearn asked the RTÉ leadership team to confirm who knew about the failed IT project.RTÉ's Chief Financial Officer Mari Hurley said that she was made aware of it when a junior member of staff came to her and she praised them for their honesty.Meanwhile, Deputy Micheál Carrigy referenced "Groundhog Day", while addressing Mr Bakhurst and said that it took "a news agency and a letter" to address the issue with the IT system."We should have transparency at all times", he said, adding "we had a number of hearings in the past, and it was like pulling teeth"."That is not acceptable for an organisation funded by the taxpayer," he added.Mr Bakhurst said "the 2023 scandal was very different,", adding that "the majority of the finance IT system was delivered".He said that "nothing was hidden here, not to say it wasn't unfortunate, but I've spoken to our CFO," and if a similar situation arose, it would be much clearer now due to a change in systems.Deputy Carrigy asked the RTÉ representatives who had been present in previous committee hearings if they knew at the time when they were present."Yes or no, were you aware of these issues when you were here before?" he asked.The members said no.Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere described the loss of money as "highly unfortunate" to lose €3.6 million is not good enough, as "someone somewhere must be accountable".He added that RTÉ is going to receive €750 million over the next years, and he thought "there would be a bit more attention paid to this kind of detail".When asked how much a recent marketing campaign being filmed in the newsroom cost, Mr Bakhurst said it was "less than €100,000".He said the cost of the advert will come out of the annual marketing budget of around €2 million.Deirdre McCarthy, Managing Director, RTÉ News & Current Affairs, later clarified that the overall cost of the promotional campaign is expected to be €77,000 plus VAT.Ms McCarthy said filming was ongoing, with some filming taking place in Brussels this week.On the use of extras, Mr Bakhurst said there were proper conversations between the marketing team and the news management team and the initial request was could some journalists from the newsroom sit in the background while the advert was filmed, "and our answer was no our journalists are too busy".Fianna Fáil TD Pádraig O'Sullivan asked if RTÉ had received two payments of €75,000 from former presenter Ryan Tubridy he received as part of a Renault deal in 2020."The answer is Ryan Tubridy has not paid that money back. We've asked him, on a legal basis as I've said previously, but I would like him to pay that back, obviously," Mr Bakhurst replied.RTÉ also updated TDs and senators on payments that it has made as part of a process to settle the employment status of around 650 workers.Fine Gael Senator Evanne Ní Chuilinn focused on the RTÉ workers and people whose employment situations were misclassified.RTÉ Director of Human Resources Eimear Cusack said that the "DSP asked for a list of names back in 2020 who were providing services, it was a mixture of people".She stated that the PRSI that has been paid back is €2.1 million.Senator Ní Chuilinn asked what compensation had been given back to people who were misclassified.She added: "Those people were denied entitlements, were they compensated, the people? Not just the departments, the people?"She asked if they had their pensions retrospectively sorted, and Ms Cusack said that "there hasn't been retrospection on that yet".Senator Ní Chuilinn said: "Do you think that it's fair that RTÉ has pocketed the pension contributions?"The Director General said that a number of people chose to be contractors, as they wanted to be paid more and were outside the bands, and that is how some of the employment situations arose."Other people had jobs outside RTÉ, but we have had to go back and term them as employment."On the issue of the TV Licence Fee, Mr Bakhurst said licence fee figures go "up and down" week to week but are "broadly in line with sales last year".He also said that RTÉ currently employs 1,850 staff, with 328 voluntary redundancy applications made by last Friday's deadline.
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