RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

RTE announce recruitment freeze.

I suppose we're finally getting somewhere.

Next is massive pay cuts and redundancies. 2FM up for sale by Xmas.

Surely worth questioning if it was a way of giving a salary top up, but not recording it as salary?

Even if it was taxed properly did the "car allowances" originate as a way of circumventing public sector pay guidelines?

And do the declared pay figures include it as it is clearly part of pay.

As I mentioned much earlier in this thread, I see the Jack Whitehall radio ads by Aiken Promotions are still coming apace on RTE Radio 1.

At this stage, must be nearly one advert aired for each paying customer. It just doesn't add up to me business wise but clearly there's a whole murky world out there I don't understand and neither do most others, I suspect.

No, it doesn't.

RTE was founded and is governed by the Broadcasting Authority Act (1960), and subject to subsequent Broadcasting Acts, not "internal legislation". The Broadcasting Authority Act contains very similar provisions to the Companies' Act, and is fully enforceable in court.

If you're aware of any breaches of the Broadcasting Authority Act, let us all know. RTE have not been accused of any that I'm aware of - nor have they actually been accused of anything that PLCs are not allowed to do under the Companies' Acts.

The mistake a lot of people are making is holding them up to the standards of behaviour of the Public Service - which they are categorically NOT a part of.

Hopefully we get a breakdown of how many weeks they can stay afloat under current trading conditions.

I accept that there appears to be no tax effects ands its just another form of pay which may even save the employer money on pensions later. However it would be interesting to know when they first decided to go this route, why some staff and not others get it.

I would suspect there was some element of keeping the headline salary low, or beneath certain limits? So not a million miles from the logic behind using the Renault route for Ryan (another form of "car allowance" 😉 ).

Oireachtas on now. Siun out of the gate asking for money and the licence fee to be scrapped in favor of the broadcasting charge presumably. So they can properly address all RTE's shortfalls. You couldn't make it up. "We know we f*cked up, but if we could just get another cheeky 50 mil and enforce payments on the public more strictly it'll all sort itself out".

They've learned nothing.

Siún doesn't really come across as being able to kick ass. Little old lady pleading forbearance can only last so long.

Bakhurst even saying that it may not be feasible to sell Montrose because landprices have gone DOWN!?

In which universe is that true?

A campus in literally THE most affluent area in the country not being worth selling.... What? At least he's said that they're entertaining the possibility.

Bakhurst talking about multiple allowances now inc car allowances for those who don't drive. He says the practice is out of hand and mis described in accounts.

RTE board & RTE Financial Controller, others can't help with queries.

Bakhurst seems to have been decided upon to be the chief conduit.

Bakhurst basically saying that quality content is now outsourced to the independent sector.

So what do the rest of the core RTE staff do? Organise the independents?

Well I guess the requirement to keep full and proper accounts of income and expenditure is the most obvious breach.

Now you may argue that they fully satisfy this requirement but certainly when we got to a situation that it takes multiple government committees to get to the truth around payments to contractors, and with 3rd party private companies appearing to gain financially from rte payments for no obvious reason other than to facilitate a deal for an rte contractor, well I think as an opener this is most questionable.