Is the RTE payments scandal symptomatic of a lack of Ethics in Irish business?

Status
Not open for further replies.
JimmyB99 said:
Hi Thedaddyman,



It's perfectly valid for you to disagree with me. All I'm saying is that this scheme has been described as a "no-brainer". The reason being the terms are so skewed in favour of the contributor. Someone is paying for such generous terms. All I was saying is that I don't recall seeing a single post on this site wondering about the ethics of taking advantage of such terms. Can you see how it might be an ethical question for some people?
Click to expand...
No, I honestly don't. It's legal, it's a programme from a democratically elected government (regardless of what you think of the Tories) and it is not a simple process to go through and it costs money to take it up with no guarantee of a return on that investment. There is an arguement for saying the UK Govt is incompetent over this measure but that doesn't make it unethical. Your logic, if applied, would also mean that Defined Benefit pensions are unethical where the pensioners contributions do not cover the return

Perfectly valid for us all to disagree though. Part of the fun of this site :)
 
Salvadore said:
It’s interesting also that while the original outrage was in relation to the additional payments to Tubbs, it took relatively little additional digging to uncover the Fas-like accounts that allowed for tickets to rugby and champions league tickets.

It beggars belief that so many people in a publicly funded organisation could look at these activities going on in plain sight and think there was nothing suspect about them.

That said, I worked for a government department that had its management meetings in the Aviva. I questioned the free bar afterwards and was just smiled at. I’ll admit to having one drink at the state’s expense.
Click to expand...

My experience of a couple of quangos were that they were so strict, I couldn't even buy them a pint in a pub or vice versa. As a supplier, if we went out with them, each paid their own way. So it does come down perhaps to the culture of each org

Personally, and speaking as someone who gets offered the odd match hospitality (not by RTE !), I don't like it as I can't relax to enjoy it and it has too many people there who have no interest in the game.
 
thedaddyman said:
Your logic, if applied, would also mean that Defined Benefit pensions are unethical where the pensioners contributions do not cover the return
Click to expand...
Good point. It would be interesting to see earning which included the full cost of funding the pension a person was going to receive and that includes private sector earners who will receive a State pension. You need to be paying over €1000 in PRSI to fund your own State Pension.
 
It’s not an issue of ethics in Irish business (i.e. the commercial sector) but did a commercial state body comply with the Code of Practice for State Bodies, which provides a framework for best practice in corporate governance by both commercial and non - commercial bodies .
- 1d213280-29b8-41ec-92c4-ca8974db5224.pdf (www.gov.ie) .

I would have thought that this would be the first port of call, rather than every Joe in the country giving their opinion on the recent scandal in RTÉ. Either RTÉ complied with the code or it did not. If it did not this is a major cause for concern, and if the code does not cover such remuneration methods, it should, as a matter of urgency, be updated.

One of the more shameful items in this matter is the decision of the Government to pay for an external review of RTÉ governance. Government to foot the bill for review into RTÉ governance following Tubridy pay scandal (thejournal.ie) It is difficult to see why the taxpayer should be hit with this and it should have been paid for by RTÉ out of its own resources.
 
The biggest issues I take from this is that the C&AG don't audit RTE and the siloed nature of the structures in RTE and all the lack of accountability and duplication of process (cost) that goes with it.
 
thedaddyman said:
Your logic, if applied, would also mean that Defined Benefit pensions are unethical where the pensioners contributions do not cover the return
Click to expand...
I have always thought DB pension schemes to be highly unethical.

An employer and an employee agree that part of the employee's remuneration will be provided by a third party that may not even have been born yet.

All going well this is exploitation of future workers, if things go badly (if the DB scheme goes bust) it's exploration of the current employee.
 
The C&AGs don’t audit commercial semi-state bodies.

The main concern of the Public Accounts Committee is RTÉ’s use of public money.

In this matter, in the past several years there is growing concern about RTÉ’s corporate governance and organizational transparency.

This was not assuaged by RTÉ’s representatives who made a shambles of their appearances before the PAC, which heard equivocation after equivocation.
 
Amongst other revelations, a RTE staff member has had the free use of a car for the last 5 years. The car was returned today but presumably the staff member will face a tax bill from Revenue and the importer/dealership of the car's financial treatment on their books.

The disastrous Toy Show the Musical sets, decorations, etc. apart from losing €2.2m, are now being stored at a cost of €8,000 p.a. Electronic voting machines anyone?
 
Purple said:
Yes, that's the problem.
Click to expand...
I suppose the question is who should audit RTE.

Perhaps there is something in what Leo Varadkar said about RTE accounting separately for public funds.

But even at that, commercial funding and public funding are inextricably linked.
 
Watching today's edition of the RTE Inquisition, white plastic bottles from a well-known drinks supplier were very prominent on some people's desks (logo side to camera please). Others had plain carafes and glasses on their desks, no doubt advertising Uisce Eireann! Never miss a chance lads, never miss a chance. ;);)
 
Sophrosyne said:
I suppose the question is who should audit RTE.

Perhaps there is something in what Leo Varadkar said about RTE accounting separately for public funds.

But even at that, commercial funding and public funding are inextricably linked.
Click to expand...
The mix of public and commercially sourced funds is at the heart of the current debacle. The commercial revenue provides the necessary cover to disregard the proper treatment of public funds.

In defending his exorbitant “fee”, Pat Kenny always used to argue that it was funded by advertisers and not the public. In fairness, he could perhaps argue that he alone generated the show’s advertising revenue.

Against that, it could be argued that the advertising revenue should fund wider RTE activities and that his income shouldn’t be influenced by how much he generates.

Ideally, each source of funding should be ringfenced for specific purposes and audited accordingly by the C&AG and private auditors.
 
Salvadore said:
The mix of public and commercially sourced funds is at the heart of the current debacle.
Click to expand...
Agreed.

Add in loose governance and anything can happen.

Perhaps new governance legislation is required for statutory bodies, such as RTE, that are not fully public and not fully private.
 
mathepac said:
Amongst other revelations, a RTE staff member has had the free use of a car for the last 5 years. The car was returned today but presumably the staff member will face a tax bill from Revenue and the importer/dealership of the car's financial treatment on their books.

The disastrous Toy Show the Musical sets, decorations, etc. apart from losing €2.2m, are now being stored at a cost of €8,000 p.a. Electronic voting machines anyone?
Click to expand...
Perhaps some posters with more knowledge than me of tax and reporting etc may like to share an opinion on how this should have been taxed :)

And throwing out some questions \ observations in general:
RTE employees, current affairs correspondents have received free EV cars from same company. Isn't that a conflict of interest? Will they be impartial when it comes to reporting on that company or EVs in general? Is that corruption?

I'm also reminded of FAS and a Totoya Yaris which was supposed to be raffled to FAS signups but disappeared without trace. Didn't something similar happen with a Credit Union?

You can also add that €70,000 was spent by RTE on running these 'sham' events, apparently purely as cover do they could reduce the value on sponsorship of the Late Late Show by €75,000 and funnel €75,000 to Tubridy off the books. Is that corruption? Unethical? Misappropriation? Abuse of office?
 
Sophrosyne said:
In fairness @odyssey06, I don’t anyone is going to respond until the forensic audit has been completed.
Click to expand...
I was just curious if anyone had an opinion on eg BIK in a scenario where the use of a car is given for 5 years apparently in lieu of payment for a service ... exercise the little grey cells :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top