A review of the finances at RTÉ amid the ongoing pay scandal has revealed three barter accounts which were used to spend €1.6 million wining and dining clients over a period of 10 years.
During the period of 2012 to 2022, the state broadcaster spent an average of approximately €150,000 each year on client entertainment and hospitality, which was paid for through barter accounts.
The average annual commercial revenue generated by RTÉ in each of those years was a staggering €150,000,000.
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However, during the same period of 2012 up until last year, RTÉ generated a whopping €1.65 billion in total commercial income, using approximately €1.6 million of the barter account revenue for client entertainment and corporate hospitality.
According to a spokesperson for RTÉ, traditional advertising campaigns are billed and paid for in full in cash, however, barter campaigns instead are billed at 50 per cent in cash and 50 per cent in credit, the credit being accumulated over time.
By using a barter account, RTÉ is able to trade its advertising space in return for goods and services produced by other companies with the media bartering company providing the marketplace for these trades, at a discounted rate.
An example of client entertainment which was provided by a barter account in 2019, was client representation and hospitality at the Rugby World Cup at a cost of €111,000. The companies represented by the clients on the trip spent €38 million in 2018 with RTÉ.
On Wednesday morning, more bombshell details regarding the spending emerged, with revelations that, in total, millions had been spent to wine and dine clients via these barter accounts, named Astus, Active and Miroma.
In a post on Twitter, Virgin Media journalist Richard Chambers confirmed thousands of euros of spending by RTE via barter accounts, including: €7,688 on Spice Girls at Croke Park, €13,730 spent on Ed Sheeran at Croke Park, €2,481 on a Garth Brooks as well as €2,306 for “the swanky members-only Soho House in London to be used for 'meetings' in the UK.”
Furthermore, Chambers added that there was a “whole raft” of restaurant expenses which amounted to several thousand euro including Dax, The Icy, Forest Avenue, Isabelle's and Trocadero totalling several thousand euro.
Tom Lyons, a journalist with The Currency also confirmed that RTE spent a whopping €9,090.04 through the use of a barter account on "Aviva Stadium for Harry Styles, Westlife and Eagles."
Just last week during the Public Accounts Committee meeting on matters relating to the appropriation of public monies to RTÉ at Leinster House, it emerged that RTÉ head honchos also used a barter account to pay for €138,000 worth of rugby tickets for matches at the Aviva Stadium.
There was also a trip to the Champions League between Liverpool and Chelsea that year in Madrid which cost the taxpayer €26,000 through RTE.
