RTÉ limousine spending
Deputy McDonald condemned RTÉ’s lavish limousine spending and questioned Government oversight. The Taoiseach said new legislation will bring RTÉ under stronger PAC and C and AG scrutiny, but RTÉ must account for the expenditure.
It seems that there is no end to RTÉ's sense of entitlement in its attitude to the spending of public money or to the lack of oversight in that regard by the Government. This morning, I read that since 2021, the State broadcaster has splashed out - get this - €230,000 on limousine rides for celebrities, dignitaries and presenters. These are not to be confused with common or garden taxis. It spends hundreds of thousands of additional money on those. What is going on? How is it in any way appropriate for this type of money to be blown on luxury limousines, including Mercedes V class, BMW 7 series, etc. We see that kind of expenditure at a time when everyone is struggling and after RTÉ was bailed out. The promise of that bailout was that there would be prudent, appropriate, moderate investment-----
Comment on this
In the first instance, the Government has sanctioned legislation to ensure RTÉ comes under the aegis of the Committee of Public Accounts and the Comptroller and Auditor General. That will give the Oireachtas a specific mechanism to hold RTÉ to account regarding the types of expenditure the Deputy has just described. It is for RTÉ to account for that. The Government does not run RTÉ. We allocate funding, principally for balanced public service broadcasting, because it is the national State broadcaster, but the Government does not in any shape or form defend any excessive or unnecessary expenditure of the type the Deputy outlined.