TV star Maia Dunphy has defended RTE's membership of a top exclusive Soho House club in London.
The presenter took to social media to defend RTE paying thousands of euro for membership at the members-only club while RTE's former London Correspondent was forced to work from cafe toilets.
Veteran journalist Fiona Mitchell, who was based in the UK between 2015 and 2019, used eateries around the city to work to record her voice for TV and radio packages after the broadcaster closed its London office in Millbank.
Documents have revealed RTE spent €4,200 for membership at The Soho House private members’ club in London.
However, Maia said the Soho House membership was a "logical cost saver" after RTE closed their London offices, as it provided a place for RTE execs to meet "valuable commercial clients".
She wrote on Twitter: "Look, the flip-flop thing is ludicrous, but stuff like the Soho House membership was a logical cost saver after RTE closed their London offices. We hold our own anywhere, & meeting valuable commercial clients in a cafe or 'by the hour' office rental in London is a step backwards.
"There is so much (justifiable) anger around all of this, and trust me, NO ONE knows how RTE needs an overhaul more than me, but equally, we need to be able to look at things a bit more critically."
One person on Twitter questioned her defence, replying: "While reporters used toilets to record their segments?"
Maia replied: "I don’t know what kind of membership it was, and where these reporters were? News reports must be done quickly, and London is a big city! We were offered the use of a studio as a favour when we were filming over there, but it was too far away, so we did our transfers from a car!"
Meanwhile, RTE has defended the annual membership to Soho House saying it is an "appropriate" place for them to hold private meetings with UK clients.
During an Oireachtas grilling on Wednesday, acting deputy director general Adrian Lynch said UK clients have a "certain level of expectation" about where they hold meetings with the broadcaster.
Asked if it was RTE’s intention to retain the membership on an ongoing basis, Mr Lynch said it will be up to incoming Director General Kevin Bakhurst whether or not they will be continuing to pay for Soho House.
He said: "In terms of that, that would be one for the incoming commercial director in terms of the level of income we generate there. It is an exclusive club. It’s also in a convenient location. There’s a certain expectation dealing with UK companies. A lot of the media spend ..about 40 per cent into the Irish market comes out of the UK’s bought from there."
Director of Commercial Geraldine O’Leary added: "Five per cent of our revenue comes through UK agencies but if you look at multinational clients based in the UK, that’s well over a third of our revenue is decided in the UK so it is appropriate that we have somewhere to have private negotiations."
