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

Super. Let's start a band! Bags I bass...

Near 90,000,000 spent by RTE on voluntery redundancy from 2011to 2019 according to the Daily Mirror 18/04/2017

As far as I know statutory redundancy is capped at €600 per week. So that would be 17 x 2 x €600 = €20,400 !!

Last few posts on this are key. Trying to save the state money in redundancies but not taking the cheapest redundancy option, if that is what they were of course.

I have worked in US multinationals also and have seen some of the contracts which outline the six weeks and the two year cap. Even saw a very old contract which had no cap.

Why would anyone take up voluntary redundancy if all that was offered was the statutory amount ? Let’s be real, you would only accept that if the business was going to the wall anyway.

Re RTE and Coveney’s package, maybe there is a precedent, maybe it’s in the employment contract.

You are approaching this in a rational and logical manner………but these two Dail committees are showing that not much common sense or smart business practice was applied in RTE. The barter account and how it was operated was a good indication that it was a free for all in Montrose.

Credit Notes to offset a payment to a presenter from the sponsor. Paying the presenter’s agent the money instead into a secondary bank account. None of this looks good.

Having worked in different organisations, both large and small, never cease to be surprised by some of the dumb stuff put in employment contracts… so if there was a termination clause in Coveney’s contract with a set amount, is it all that surprising as Dee Forbes and Coveney seemed to be good buddies

Kevin Bakhurst doesn’t strike me as someone daft enough to go out a limb over Coveney and Collins. If you bring them through the HR disciplinary route, they stand a chance of remaining as many more people involved and others who should have known. Entire finance dept could be gone. Need to put a few heads on sticks and given the mess, that was never going to be cheap if KB wanted it done quickly.

I suspect he regrets returning to RTE every single day because this is a mess that’s only getting bigger.

Not sure about making representations to a TD about termination payments. They have their own sweet heart deal even if they decide not to stand for re election and it applies to their staff as well.

Re your comment about getting a lump sum payment yourself……never be irreplaceable, I have seen employees do very good jobs and were kept, while inept colleagues got the “package”. That is seriously annoying.

got renewal reminder as up since 31/01/24.

how long can i string them along??

Coveney left in July. That announcement of voluntary redundancies was KB's plan to cut 400 jobs announced in November to happen 2024 - 2028. There was no voluntary redundancy scheme in place at RTE in July 2023 AFAIK.

I am only talking about Coveney's exit.

The CFO's exit is a different matter. I do believe he needed to be "paid off" to leave, if KB wanted rid of him and he wouldn't resign.

As for the impact on other staff, RTE plans to remove 400 staff in the coming years under voluntary redundancy or natural attrition according to KB's grand plan unveiled in Nov 2023. Retaining staff is not his priority.

The fox or the vixen :)

Has Buckhurst made his statement yet?

This made me chuckle

RTÉ’s director general has defended his decision to give an exit package to Rory Coveney, saying the national broadcaster could have been ordered to pay double the amount if the former strategy director had taken a wrongful dismissal case.

Kevin Bakhurst said there were “absolutely no grounds” to sack Mr Coveney, who was described as the “driving force” behind the ill-fated musical which lost the organisation €2.2m.

Mr Coveney, the brother of Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney, received a package when he resigned and his role was made redundant in July last year — the same week Mr Bakhurst took the helm.

Mr Bakhurst said RTÉ expects to recoup the cost of the payment to Mr Coveney by July this year, leading to speculation the payment was approximately one year’s salary, or about €200,000.

Recalling the comment yesterday, Mr Bakhurst said that “statutory” was a technical term and that what he actually meant was that Mr Coveney had been given an appropriate fee based on his 16 years at the organisation and compared to what he would receive at the WRC.

Mr Bakhurst also confirmed that former chief financial officer Richard Collins was given a payment to leave the organisation, after independent mediation which included a confidentiality clause.

The director general has come under fresh scrutiny about the payouts and confidentiality agreements. Labour senator Marie Sherlock said there had been a “convenient retrofitting of the truth” and the public were led to believe that Mr Coveney resigned of his own volition.

It actually looks like Bakhurst is going for obfuscation more than transparent. If Coveney and Collins are no longer around then there are no answers to be scrutinized.

If you were in the private sector and lost the company you worked for a couple of million quid you world be sacked on the spot

that’s before the point of not informing the company you spent the couple of million of their money without authorisation

and that point the gardai are called in