On Wednesday, Terence O’Rourke will appear before the Oireachtas media committee for the first time in his new role at the broadcaster.
O’Rourke became RTÉ’s new board chairman earlier this year, following the shock resignation of Siun Ní Raghallaigh.
A series of reports have been made into RTÉ’s finances, corporate governance and human resources following a full year of controversy, first sparked by last summer’s pay row.
O’Rourke will tell TDs and senators that he needed to acknowledge on behalf of the RTÉ board “our deep disappointment and regret at the actions, events and behavior that triggered the various reports that investigated those issues”.
“The organization has learned from what happened. “The necessary controls and procedures are being put in place to ensure that such events do not occur again,” he will tell the committee on Wednesday.
O’Rourke said he wanted to recognize the “great work” RTÉ staff had done with high quality results “before, during and after the difficult events of the past year”.
He said the professionalism and commitment of staff had been evidence, despite a “serious blow to morale”.
The government is due to decide on a future funding model for RTÉ in the coming weeks, before the summer recess.
O’Rourke said whatever funding model is chosen, it must be “sufficient, predictable and independent.”
A year ago, RTÉ was consumed by controversy when a scandal first broke over previously undeclared payments to former Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy.
It subsequently suffered new revelations about its corporate governance and financial management, as well as the conflict between its public service and its commercial arm.
Earlier this year, O’Rourke became RTÉ’s third board chair in less than 18 months.
His appointment came weeks after the surprising resignation of Siun Ní Raghallaigh, who had replaced Moya Doherty in November 2022.
Ní Raghallaigh resigned on February 23 after saying it was “very clear” she no longer had the confidence of Media Minister Catherine Martin.
The previous night, Martin had refused to express his confidence in the then president on Prime Time, after it emerged that the minister had been “misinformed” about a detail about RTÉ’s exit packages.
Ms Ní Raghallaigh described the interview as a “forced dismissal”.
O’Rourke is the current chairman of the ESB and a former managing partner of KPMG who has also played a role on several high-profile boards of directors.
This includes being a board member and past chairman of Enterprise Ireland and a board member of the Irish Times, Dublin Theater Festival.
When he became president of RTÉ, Mr O’Rourke said he hoped to establish a “stable foundation” for the organisation.
