Breda O'Keeffe's €450,000 RTÉ payment prompts calls for details of all 'exit deals'

There have been calls for the details of the exit package for all employees, including former RTÉ executive Rory Coveney, to be revealed after it emerged this week that former CFO Breda O’Keeffe received an exit package of €450,000.

The Chair of the Public Accounts Committee Deputy Brian Stanley has sought for details on Mr Coveney's package to be revealed. 

Mr Coveney was RTÉ's director of strategy and resigned from the organisation last year. During the week an Oireachtas committee heard that he also received an "exit package".

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland on Friday, Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley said that the amount paid to Mr Coveney should be disclosed.

While he welcomed changes made by the new executive at RTÉ, Deputy Stanley said that it was a mistake to enter into or have confidentiality clauses "around any of these matters".

Senator Marie Sherlock also said RTÉ’s Director General must set the record straight on exit packages for all staff that were granted by RTÉ over the past five years. 

Senator Sherlock said: “Many of us are reeling at the news that the business case for the exit of former CFO Breda O’Keeffe was not even committed to paper at a time where RTÉ management were engaged in fine tooth comb negotatiations about pay, travel and subsistence with staff in the organisation".

Until we have full transparency on this behaviour RTÉ cannot move on: €2.6m in golden handshakes paid out to executives during Dee Forbes’s reign - & all this while staff were cut back !
https://t.co/WqdBMis5Ly

— Ciaran Mullooly (@ciaranmullooly) February 16, 2024

She also questioned other exit deals for staff. 

“All this is happening at a time where RTÉ continues to deny employment status and associated rights to hundreds of workers who have been determined as bogusly self employed," Senator Sherlock said.

“Ultimately, Director General Kevin Bakhurst needs to provide a full record of what packages were negotiated and the associated cost. 

“Unlike any private organisation that might negotiate packages to push people out of the organisation, public money is at stake here. 

“The need for bailouts for RTÉ predates the crisis that broke out last summer and the sharp drop in TV licence revenues is deeply concerning. This is all happening in the context of massive bailouts paid to the broadcaster in recent years," Senator Sherlock said.