The RTÉ Director General will tell the Oireachtas Media Committee it was "extremely regrettable" that public money was used to write-down a partly failed IT system.However, Kevin Bakhurt will say it was "an outlier" within RTÉ's overall capital expenditure portfolio.The broadcaster is the first organisation to be invited to appear before the committee during this Dáil term.Mr Bakhurst, chairperson Terence O’Rourke and several other senior figures will represent RTÉ at the joint Oireachtas committee.Chairman Alan Kelly has said the committee will ask executives how a €3.6 million write-down for the project came about.Earlier this month, RTÉ confirmed it had written down the figure on the partly failed IT system, which was one of the projects funded from the proceeds of the sale of land at its Dublin site in 2017.In his opening statement published ahead of the meeting, Mr Bakhurst confirmed that write-down included €2.3m for the HR part of the project."It is extremely regrettable when dealing with public funds to have to write down significant sums of money."And I want to underline the fact that we have taken this very seriously and have spent considerable time looking into the details of the project and the process," Mr Bakhurst will tell the committee.It is expected that he will outline his view that this write-down was "an exception" in the context of what RTÉ delivers annually."It is important to say that in our review of large capital projects for the Minister and the Department, it was very clear that this project was an outlier within a much larger portfolio of projects."He will also say: "The total spend for all such projects in that period comes to circa €57m overall, with a total variance to the initial budget approved of less than €500,000."Mr Bakhurst will also update TDs and senators on the broadcaster’s progress towards becoming a "smaller, more agile and efficient RTÉ".He will point to the organisation’s voluntary exit scheme, which received 325 applications before it closed last week."We are working differently and have a much stronger focus on compliance and best practice standards."Mr Bakhurst will also say RTÉ has developed "a new strategy which commits to significant transformation of our working and financial model over the years ahead".Speaking on Morning Ireland, Mr Kelly said that a marketing campaign being filmed for RTÉ, using extras and props in the newsroom, "just doesn't sit right".The advert purports to highlight a day in the life of the newsroom.Mr Kelly said it seems to be "absolutely ridiculous" that RTÉ is presenting something "that isn't real".
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