The RTÉ Executive Board, despite its name, was not a board of directors, but rather was a committee composed of the senior management of the Irish public service broadcaster, Raidió Teilifís Éireann, responsible for the day-to-day running of the broadcaster.
The executive board reported to the RTÉ Board through the director general. It was disbanded by the newly appointed Director General Kevin Bakhurst on his first day following the RTÉ secret payment scandal, and replaced by a "temporary interim leadership team".[1]
The executive board was chaired by the Director General of RTÉ.
The remainder of the committee included managing directors of television, radio, news and current affairs, and heads of content, channels and marketing, corporate development, commercial, legal and other functions, the chief digital officer, the chief technology officer, the chief financial officer.
The director general is appointed by the RTÉ Board, with the consent of the government and the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media,[2] while the other board members were appointed by the director general.
The executive board was disbanded following the RTÉ secret payment scandal and replaced by a "temporary interim leadership team to continue running the organisation".
A new executive board was put in place in October 2017.[3] The new board dropped the Director of TV and the Director of Radio, replacing them with the Director of Content and the Director of Audience, Channels and Marketing. Frances Abeton left the role of Director of Operations and Production Services at the end of 2018.[4]
In November 2018 Willie O'Reilly left the executive board to take up the position of chairman of iRadio,[5] Geraldine O'Leary replaced him as commercial director; she initially did not sit on the executive board.[6] In 2019 Rory Coveney became Director of Strategy and was appointed to the board, O'Leary was also appointed to the board at this time. Paula Mullooly then joined the Executive board as Legal Director. In 2020 Breda O'Keeffe left RTÉ "under a voluntary restructuring programme" and left her position as CFO[7] and she was replaced by Richard Collins.
On 21 June 2022, Jon Williams announced his resignation as Managing Director of RTÉ News and Current Affairs and stepped down at the end of July.[8] He left RTÉ with an exit payment even though he left the broadcaster of his own accord.[9] He was replaced by Deirdre McCarthy on an interim basis,[10] before taking up the position permanently on 19 December 2022.[11]
It was announced on 18 April 2023 that Kevin Bakhurst, former Deputy Director General and Managing Director of News and Current Affairs was appointed Director General and took the position in July 2023, returning to the broadcaster after a period of 7 years.[12]
Adrian Lynch, Director of Channels & Marketing, was appointed to the position of Deputy Director General in June 2023;[13] he also assumed the role of interim Director General following the suspension and later resignation of Dee Forbes, and prior to the arrival of Bakhurst in July 2023.
On 7 July 2023, in the wake of the RTÉ secret payment scandal, Director of Strategy Rory Coveney resigned from his position with immediate effect following a meeting with the incoming Director General Kevin Bakhurst.[14]
On 11 October 2023 it was announced that RTÉ's CFO Richard Collins had resigned from the organisation. [15]
The final members of the executive board were:[16]
| Position | Office holder | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dee Forbes | Suspended / resigned | ||
| Chief financial officer | Richard Collins | Resigned on 11 October 2023 | |
| Director of content | Jim Jennings | On Sick Leave | |
| Director of audiences, channels & marketingActing deputy director general | Adrian Lynch | Became acting DG on resignation of Dee Forbes. | |
| Deirdre McCarthy | |||
| Director of human resources | Eimear Cusack | ||
| Director of operations & technology | Richard Waghorn | ||
| Director of strategy | Rory Coveney | Resigned on 7 July 2023 | |
| Director of commercial | Geraldine O'Leary | Took early retirement from 10 July 2023, due to retire later in 2023 | |
| Director of legal | Paula Mullooly | Part of Kevin Bakhurst's interm Leadership team, exited RTÉ at the end of 2023 |
Paula Mullooly exited RTÉ at the end of 2023.[17] She had been a former member of the executive board under Dee Forbes and was placed on the interim leadership board by Kevin Bakhurst. Mike Fives remains as Group Financial Director but makes way for Mari Hurley who was appointed CFO in March 2024, Conor Mullen also moves from his position on the leadership team in favour of the newly appoint Commercial Director Gavin Deans, while Director of Legal Daniel Coady joints the Leadership Team.[18] Director of Content Jim Jennings will not take up a position on the leadership board on his return to work.[19] The role of Director of Content will be split between two new roles Director of Video and Director of Audio both roles were advertised in April 2024. [20] On 1 July 2024 the final members RTÉ leadership team were announced, Patricia Monahan, Newstalk's Managing Editor, was appointed as Director of Audio, while Steve Carson, Director of BBC Scotland (TV channel), was appointed Director of Video.[21]
| Position | Office holder | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Bakhurst | |||
| Chief Financial Officer | Mari Hurley | ||
| Director of Video | Steve Carson | replaces Director of Content role | |
| Director of Audio | Patricia Monahan | replaces Director of Content role | |
| Director of audiences, channels & marketingDeputy director general [22] | Adrian Lynch | Former member of the executive board | |
| Deirdre McCarthy | Former member of the executive board | ||
| Director of human resources | Eimear Cusack | Former member of the executive board | |
| Director of operations & technology | Richard Waghorn | Former member of the executive board | |
| Commercial Director | Gavin Deans | ||
| Head of Public Affairs | Vivienne Flood | ||
| Director of Legal | Daniel Coady |
Following RTÉ's defamation of Father Kevin Reynolds in its "Mission to Prey" episode of Prime Time, RTÉ announced that Ed Mulhall, MD News, had "retired" on 3 April 2012.[23]
See main article: RTÉ secret payment scandal. In June 2023, RTÉ admitted that it paid its top presenter Ryan Tubridy €345,000 more than publicly declared between 2017 and 2022.[24] [25] Dee Forbes was suspended as Director General a day prior to the controversy,[26] and ultimately resigned with immediate effect on 26 June.[27] A statement from the interim Director General claimed that only Forbes had a complete picture, although someone prepared all the materials, advised her and enacted the actions to engage and pay Tubridy.