Larry Bass, the independent TV producer behind Dancing With the Stars, claimed last night that RTE had been “shot in the foot” after the media minister’s comments forced the “hugely competent” Siún Ní Raghallaigh to resign as chairwoman of the board.
Bass said: “This whole farce is ridiculous. The government had the solution to fix RTE and for the sake of no reason whatsoever she has become the sacrificial lamb.
“Someone who was actually doing a good job has had to resign because the minister on national TV said she had no faith in her.”
Bass also highlighted that Ní Raghallaigh was not costing the state broadcaster any money in her voluntary position, which would be hard to fill.
He said the questions that Catherine Martin, the media minister, was asked on TV “frankly didn’t matter because the department had the information from last October.
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“This has turned into a media roadshow, rather than letting people carry on and do their jobs.”
Bass, the owner of the independent production company ShinAwiL, told The Sunday Times that an “internal communication problem” within the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media had led to the resignation of “the person who was best to do the job of fixing RTE”.
• Alison O’Connor: Good luck finding someone to chair RTE while Martin is media minister
Ní Raghallaigh announced last Friday that she would be stepping down from her position as chairwoman of the RTE board after Martin said she was “misinformed” on exit packages.
Martin said on RTE’s Prime Time show last Thursday night that Ní Raghallaigh had assured her that she had no role in signing off on recent exit packages for senior executives. Martin said Ní Raghallaigh backtracked later in the week to say Richard Collins’s package was passed in a remuneration committee meeting.
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Ní Raghallaigh’s exit statement contradicted Martin’s account by stating that she had disclosed the “process” underlying the exit deals to the media minister’s department on October 10.
The minister reiterated her point at a press conference held on Friday, where she said she was “deeply disappointed” the chairwoman had not given her “accurate information” in relation to exit packages for RTE executives.
Martin said that Katherine Licken, her former secretary general, had been informed by phone that the “independent mediation process on an exit package for Collins had finally reached a conclusion” but Licken “had no recollection of being told that it was approved by the board’s remuneration committee”. Martin will appear before a special three-hour sitting of the Oireachtas media committee on Tuesday to answer questions about the ongoing controversy.
Ní Raghallaigh had been chairwoman for just 14 months, having assumed the role in November 2022.
A trained accountant, the Donegal woman had business nous and a background in the media. She worked as group financial controller of the former Sunday Tribune, and was a founding member of TG4.
Ní Raghallaigh also revived Ireland’s first big film studio, Ardmore — which had collapsed in 2012 — and secured funding to create Troy Studios in Limerick, both of which have attracted international productions, including The Vikings and Nightflyers, to film here.
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Bass said she was “the absolute perfect selection for chairwoman because she chaired TG4 incredibly well and the job she had done at turning Ardmore Studios around was extraordinary.
“That is exactly what is needed in RTE, when it’s done, people need to say, ‘That was extraordinary,’” Bass added.
Her departure raises the question of who will succeed. Bass said that while the director-general, Kevin Bakhurst, had a strong editorial background, he needed someone with good financial knowledge to lean on. “They need someone really strong with good business acumen who can support the executive and do the necessary work to turn the broadcaster around,” Bass said.
However, the producer thought the government might go the independent route and choose an academic to take over. “I fear the minister and government will turn to an academic or a corporate governance expert,” he said.
Bass also highlighted it was a tough role to fill as it is voluntary and demanding. “They do get a stipend but, because of the mess RTE is in, they need to be switched on seven days a week,” he said.
Meanwhile, speaking on Newstalk’s Anton Savage Show, Seamus Dooley, the Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: “This has been badly handled by everyone.
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“The minister was in the wrong room [on Thursday]. She should have been sitting across the table talking to Siún Ní Raghallaigh teasing out these issues instead of talking to Miriam O’Callaghan.
“State boards are not lucrative; Siún Ní Raghallaigh has put a huge amount of work into RTE. She is, in my experience, committed to public service.”
Ní Raghallaigh did not respond to a request for comment when contacted by The Sunday Times yesterday.
