Dee Forbes banging the RTE TV licence drum again 60m uncollected fee *poll not working - pl ignore*

They get privilege in the committee I believe.

She would have some neck going down a legal line to seek even more money off the tax payer. But who knows.

I still dont get why you would pay someone 450K to leave. Surely there are less expensive options.

Meanwhile, Bakhurst also told the committee that he pulled ads for the TV licence from other broadcasting platforms as he thought it would be “inappropriate” to demand people to pay the fee in the middle of the RTE scandal.

Bakhurst said management were trying to do “everything we could” to re-establish trust with the Irish public.

Brendan Griffin, a Fine Gael TD, queried why RTÉ decided to pull advertising of the TV licence on channels outside its own platforms last July.

“Ultimately I made the decision for a number of reasons,” Bakhurst said.

“The main reason was because I thought that given what was emerging about RTÉ at that stage, and the constant scandal that was unfolding, I thought it would be inappropriate for us to be paying for adverts demanding people to pay the licence fee.”

This is just getting weirder.

I have to disagree, I don't it's Gross incompetence, this is what happens when there is no accountability or repercussions for those at the top. Just look at how all those people listed in another post of this thread were able to walk away and not attend the committee. This is not just RTE, even though this RTE debacle is highlighting but this is rife across the public sector. Look at how untouchable the elite are and by that I mean Government ministers/TD's, their advisors and Sec Gens are and also how dismissively they all treat these committees. They all want the big wages but none of the responsibility. I hope everyone of them involved in this debacle is shunned by everyone in the country so much so that they don't want to step outside their doors or they have to move out of the country.

One of the many opportunities missed when the Trioka were here was a reform of our corporate laws to make Public servants more accountable and with dire consequences such as being arrested and tried for any wrong doing and not being let off like we see here with a sick note. This is what Helen McEntee should be working on and not the "hurty words" bill but none of the elite want this, yes politicians will pretend like they do that that they want transparency and accountability at all levels but we all know that this the furthest thing from their mind.

There should be a deep dive done on every single Public service company/department now and allow no resignations or retirements till it is complete and use auditors from outside of the state to do it. If anyone thinks that this was/is just going on in RTE then they need to take their heads out of the sand. If it was me I would be starting with the HSE and what is going on there.

Ive said it before.....they broke up FAS when it turned out they were a shower if chancers....why are they not doing the same with RTE?

Yes the country is full of it but can’t see Politicans going after local authorities unless forced into it. Local Authorities have had political “influence” on them in the past and digging that hornets nest might be a little close for comfort, no knowing what they would find out about party colleagues.

I expect the RTE public humiliation hearings to continue for some time as you can’t buy that level of publicity for the members holding court.

The sooner tv licence renewals falls off a cliff, the sooner Politicans will have to make a decision on RTE’s future funding. The 451k revelation might be the event to end the fence sitting in Dáil Éireann.

I'd imagine the shenanigans at RTE are a drop in the ocean compared to what goes on in the HSE. But no-one is ever going to touch that, too many people involved, i'd imagine 50%+ of the country knows someone at a desk job within that behomoth, and if anything ever tries to get done, it will be shut down almost immediately by "bUt PeOpLe WiLl dIe....."

The license fee is not optional if you have the qualifying equipment to decode a signal.

Reminding people of their obligation under law is neither inappropriate or solely up to Bakhurst.

He engaged in a practice that may cost us all money.

It brings An Posts credibility into it too.

The law hasn't changed because RTE management are incompetent. And it's not a point you can argue if do find yourself in court.

It's an extremely weird situation.

yes they should be looking at all Semi-states in same way, RTÉ is just the tip of the iceberg. But RTÉ makes it look like they are doing their job.

Like I said it's a pragmatic management decision by RTE.

Read the post.

Then Brendan Griffin asked Eimear Cusack about the cost of the backdated bogus Employee's rights (Holiday, Maternity, Pension Pay etc.), Cusack looked straight away at Bakhurst. Bakhurst then have a waffley answer. It was obvious they had prepared for this question beforehand and Bakhurst was to answer it. You can be sure the cost will run into may millions. It is at ~3:55 in the recording.

Recording: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/oireachtas-tv/video-archive/committees/8997

How can a company make the CFO position redundant? This is one of the most important roles in a company any company and usually the CFO is the last to leave and turn out the lights when a company folds. This is just a farce.