RTE DG Kevin Bakhurst to be grilled on botched HR project at Media Committee
In his opening statement, Mr Bakhurst will say the project was 'too ambitious'.
Earlier this month, the broadcaster said the IT was to replace five legacy systems that were used for Finance and HR which were "at or near end of life". While the IT system was used, the HR system was shelved.
Some €3.6 million was lost in total, including €2.3 million on the HR project and €1.3 million caused by the delays with the finance aspect.
The issue came to light when Media Minister Patrick O'Donovan asked bodies under his department to outline projects over €500,000 that were either abandoned or 'materially failed to deliver'.
In his opening statement, Mr Bakhurst will tell the Media Committee that the 'ERP system' was a 'project that dates back several years' and kicked off in 2016.
He will say: '[It] was a large-scale but essential capital project that was probably too ambitious and ultimately did not achieve all that was originally hoped.
'It is extremely regrettable when dealing with public funds to have to write down significant sums of money.
'I want to underline the fact that we have taken this very seriously and have spent considerable time looking into the details of the project and the process.
'Thanks to the efforts of many, an effective finance system was salvaged, implemented and continues to operate today.
'An expert and independent review was commissioned at the end of the project to identify the key lessons to be learned, and it is important to say that in our review of large capital projects for the Minister and the Department, it was very clear that this project was an outlier within a much larger portfolio of projects.'
Mr Bakhurst also outlined two other 'financial issues'. This included repayment of €2.7 million to Revenue regarding the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme.
It has also paid €1.1 million to Revenue regarding an audit which commenced in 2024.
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