Seven RTE executives have confirmed that they will sit before the Oireachtas Media Committee this Wednesday afternoon to answer questions surrounding the Ryan Tubridy payment scandal.
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport & Media will tailor questions towards each of the executives that are present, with a hard line of questioning expected, including a call for RTÉ stars to reveal "extra paid gigs."
RTÉ confirmed the following seven attendees: Siún Ní Raghallaigh - Chair; Anne O'Leary, Chair of Audit & Risk Committee RTÉ; Robert Shortt, Member of Audit & Risk Committee and Board staff representative; Adrian Lynch, Interim Deputy Director General; Richard Collins, Chief Financial Officer; Geraldine O'Leary, Director of Commercial and Rory Coveney, Director of Strategy.
The public service broadcaster, who admitted to paying former Late Late host Ryan Tubridy €345,000 more than publicly declared over five years, said that now resigned Director General Dee Forbes will not be in attendance due to "health reasons."
Siún Ní Raghallaigh - Chair
Siún Ní Raghallaigh was first appointed on November 29, 2022 with her term-date end listed as November 28, 2027.
She is a former TG4 Chairperson and Board member. RTE described her as a "leader in the creative sector."
She was CEO of Ardmore Studios and Troy Studios, who work on international films, located in Limerick, until 2021.
She worked as Managing Director with Tyrone Productions and was a founding member of the team who established TG4 and worked there from 1996 to 2001 in the roles of Finance, Strategy and Marketing.
She was Head of Finance with Tribune Newspaper Group. She founded her own independent television company Ikandi Productions and produced several documentaries.
Siún is also involved in the animation sector and has executive produced several animated feature films, RTÉ has said.
Anne O'Leary - Chair of Audit & Risk Committee RTÉ
Anne O'Leary was first appointed to the RTÉ Board on November 4, 2014, with her term-end date listed as November 3 of next year.
RTÉ said Anne O’Leary is an experienced business executive with a "proven track record in helping companies develop new routes to market and exploit technology to optimise potential."
"Anne has a very good understanding of corporate governance and compliance," the broadcaster states.
As a member of the Institute of Directors, she is aware of the requirements of "both private and State boards."
RTÉ has labelled her as a "successful entrepreneur", building and selling a "world-class technology business."
She has worked across a number of different business sectors. These are in diagnostics, strategic planning, facilitation of teams and individuals, and sustainable revenue growth.
Robert Shortt - Member of Audit & Risk Committee and Board staff representative
Robert Shortt joined RTÉ as a journalist on the News at One in 1998 and has since worked across many of the programmes in the News & Current Affairs division. He has served as Business Correspondent and was part of the team which set up The Business on Radio One. He spent four years as Washington Correspondent before moving to Prime Time in 2009.
He has twice won a Smurfit Business Journalist Award for his reporting.
Before joining RTÉ, he worked for the Japanese financial newspaper the Nikkei and for the BBC.
He was elected as the first chair of the NUJ’s RTÉ Sub Branch and served as Vice Chair of the RTÉ Trade Union Group (TUG) for three years.
Robert has a BA in English & Economics from UCD and an MSc Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Adrian Lynch - Interim Deputy Director General
Adrian Lynch is now Interim Deputy Director General after Director General Dee Forbes resigned earlier this week, following her suspension when news of the Ryan Tubridy hidden payments scandal hit.
He will continue in the role until incoming Kevin Bakhurst takes over as Director General in the coming weeks.
Adrian Lynch was previously Channel Controller for RTÉ One and RTÉ2 and the broadcaster said: "in that capacity, launched ambitious new schedules for the services."
Adrian has been with RTÉ since the end of 2014 and was formerly Managing Director of independent television production company, Animo Television.
The company produced shows like Celebrity Bainisteoir, Secret Millionaire and Ireland's Fittest Family.
As Channel Controller of RTÉ One and RTÉ2, Adrian has worked on programmes across all genres, with marked successes around Dancing with the Stars, RTÉ 1916, and award-winning documentaries such as My Homeless Family.
Richard Collins - Chief Financial Officer
Richard joined RTÉ in January 2020. He has been appointed a director of RTÉ Commercial Enterprises DAC and of RTÉ Transmission Network DAC.
Prior to joining RTÉ, Richard spent 13 years in the retail sector where, in addition to gaining "wide financial and operational experience", he led "a number of major turnaround and transformation programmes" according to RTÉ.
Most recently he served as Director of Finance at Dunnes Stores, delivering strategy development and systems modernisation.
Before this role, he was Finance Director at Superquinn, where he led their integration into Musgrave Group.
Richard has held a number of other senior financial roles, both in Ireland and abroad, with organisations such as Dell Computer Corporation and the daa.
He is a Trinity College Dublin alumnus and trained as a chartered accountant with KPMG.
Geraldine O'Leary - Director of Commercial
Geraldine O’Leary is a Psychology graduate of University College Cork, who has been employed in the advertising industry since graduation. She has worked with Brian Cronin and Associates, DDFH&B, Saatchi & Saatchi and Zenith Media.
Geraldine joined RTÉ in 1997 as Manager Television Sales and was promoted to Director Sales and Marketing in 1999.
In 2003, she became Commercial Director of RTÉ Television, and "has played a prominent role in the RTÉ commercial function since then" according to the public broadcaster.
Geraldine became Group Head of Commercial RTÉ in January 2018 and is responsible for leading all of the divisional and cross-divisional commercial staff and operations at RTÉ.
She is a Fellow of The Marketing Institute of Ireland, Founding Director of TAM Ireland and a Member of the Council of the Marketing Society of Ireland as well as a Board Member of EGTA (European Group of Television Advertising).
In 2018 Geraldine was honoured with the Media Hero as nominated by her Industry Peers.
Rory Coveney - Director of Strategy
Rory has worked with RTÉ since 2007 in a number of different roles.
Since 2011, as Strategic Advisor to the Director-General, Rory has "been at the centre of strategic planning for the organisation."
He leads corporate strategy, new ventures and innovation, public affairs, and strategic risk management at the broadcaster.
He worked for Irish Aid in the Department of Foreign Affairs before joining RTÉ.
He received his degree from UCC where he was awarded a BA in history. He has an MA in Interactive Media from Dublin Institute of Technology.
