Board of RTÉ
At year end, five RTÉ Board members were female and seven male.

1. Siún Ní Raghallaigh, Chair
Term of office: 29 November 2022–28 November 2027
Siún Ní Raghallaigh is a former TG4 Chairperson and Board member.
Siún has gained recognition as a leader in the creative sector, having been CEO of Ardmore Studios and Troy Studios until 2021. She was Managing Director with Tyrone Productions and a founding member of the team who established TG4, working there from 1996 to 2001 in finance, strategy and marketing roles.
She was Head of Finance with Tribune Newspaper Group. She founded her own independent television company, Ikandi Productions, and produced several documentaries. Siún is also involved in the animation sector and has executive produced animated feature films

2. Dee Forbes, Director-General
Ex-officio member following appointment as Director-General on 11 July 2016. Term end :10 July 2023.
Dee Forbes was appointed Director-General of RTÉ with effect from 11 July 2016. Prior to taking up her role at RTÉ, Dee was based in London for more than 27 years, working for broadcasters and advertising agency Young and Rubicam.
She was President and Managing Director of Discovery Networks Northern Europe. Dee joined Discovery in 2010 as Head of the UK/Ireland operation and progressively grew her responsibilities to eventually lead the Northern Europe region, which included 18 markets and territories and 27 channels, both free-to-air and subscription, which broadcast to more than 276 million households across Northern Europe each month.
Before joining Discovery, Dee led Turner Broadcasting’s business in the UK and Ireland, which consisted of seven entertainment channels, including Cartoon Network, Boomerang and TCM. She spent several years working at Turner in a variety of commercial roles, including General Manager for the Nordic/Central and Eastern Europe and EMEA regions, and Head of Advertising Sales for Europe.
Dee is a former non-executive director of the board of The Irish Times and currently sits on the board of Munster Rugby. A native of Drimoleague in west Cork, she is a graduate of UCD, where she studied history and politics.

3. Aideen Howard
Term of office: 29 November 2022–28 November 2027
Aideen Howard is Director of The Ark Cultural Centre for Children in Temple Bar, Dublin.
She has worked in theatre and the arts for over two decades as an artistic director, producer and commissioner of new work. Her leadership of The Ark combines advocacy and art-making for children in the belief that they have a right to art and culture as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Prior to The Ark, Aideen was Literary Director of the Abbey Theatre and is editor of Irish Shorts: New Plays from The Abbey Theatre. She was founding Artistic Director of the multidisciplinary Mermaid Arts Centre and has worked as literary consultant to Arts Council projects. In 2014 she curated the poetry programme of the Mountains to Sea Festival.
Aideen has been a member of the Advisory Council for Children, the Creative Youth Expert Advisory Group and the National Campaign for the Arts. She holds a BA in English and German from Trinity College, Dublin and an MA in Drama from UCD. In 2019 she returned to education and completed a Certificate in Governance at the Institute of Public Administration. Aideen is currently a PhD candidate at Queen’s University, Belfast.

4. Ian Kehoe
Term of office: 9 October 2018–8 October 2023
Ian Kehoe is an award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster. In 2014, at the age of 34, he was appointed Editor of The Sunday Business Post newspaper, a position he held for four years. During that time, he was appointed to the board of the newspaper and an associated printing business.
Following this, Ian co-founded Currency Media Limited, which publishes the online business service The Currency. A former presenter and reporter with RTÉ’s Prime Time, he has made a number of major television documentaries including Who’s Buying Ireland? and The Great Irish Sell-Off.
Ian has twice been named as Ireland’s business and economics journalist of the year and has won a Miriam Hederman O’Brien Award for his contribution to Irish fiscal policy. He is a co-author of Citizen Quinn, a bestselling book about the rise and fall of industrialist Seán Quinn.
A native of Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, Ian holds a BA in Journalism and an MA in International Relations from DCU.

5. Connor Murphy
Term of office: 19 March 2020–18 March 2025
Connor Murphy is a technology entrepreneur with a background in venture capital, management consulting and computer science. He is currently a member of the Techstars Venture Partner team and was previously MD of the Techstars SAP.iO programme in Berlin. He supports Techstars programmes in Melbourne, Seoul, Bangalore, Singapore, Oslo, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Munich, and Berlin. He was previously CEO and Founder of Datahug, which exited to Nasdaq-listed Callidus Cloud (Nasdaq:CALD) and is now part of SAP.
Prior to Datahug, Connor worked with PA Consulting Group in London, New York and Washington, DC. He holds a first-class honours degree in computer science from University College Cork.

6. Dr P.J. Mathews
Term of office: 4 November 2014–3 November 2024 (Reappointed for a second term on December 10 2019)
Dr P.J. Mathews is an associate professor in the School of English, Drama and Film at UCD and specialises in Irish literature and culture. He is the author of Revival (published by Field Day/Cork UP in 2003), a study of the Irish cultural revival period; editor of the Cambridge Companion to J.M. Synge (2009); and co-editor of A Handbook of the Irish Revival (published by the Abbey Theatre in 2015).
P.J, is the founder and director of academic podcasting for UCD scholarcast (www.ucd.ie/scholarcast). He was director of the Parnell Summer School from 2002 to 2005 and was appointed Naughton Fellow and Visiting Associate Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame for 2007-8. He is an external member of the Irish Studies group at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3 and co-convenor of the Irish Studies Doctoral Research Network.

7. Anne O’Leary
Term of office: 4 November 2014–3 November 2024 (Reappointed for a second term on December 10 2019)
Anne O’Leary is an experienced business executive with a proven track record in helping companies develop new routes to market and exploit technology to optimise potential. Anne has a very good understanding of corporate governance and compliance. As a member of the Institute of Directors, she has an updated understanding of the requirements of both private and State boards.
She is a successful entrepreneur, building and selling a world-class technology business, with a strong concentration on strategic partnerships, sales management, marketing, product development and internal-external relationship management.
Anne has a broad range of experience across a number of different business sectors. She has a demonstrated ability in diagnostics, strategic planning, facilitation of teams and individuals, and sustainable revenue growth.

8. Robert Shortt
Term of office: 29 May 2018–3 November 2024 (Reappointed for a second term on December 10 2019)
Robert Shortt joined RTÉ as a journalist on the News at One in 1998 and has since worked across many of the programmes in the News & Current Affairs division. He has served as Business Correspondent and was part of the team which set up The Business on Radio 1. He spent four years as Washington Correspondent before moving to Prime Time in 2009. He has twice won a Smurfit Business Journalist Award for his reporting.
Before joining RTÉ, he worked for the Japanese financial newspaper the Nikkei and for the BBC. He was elected as the first chair of the NUJ’s RTÉ Sub Branch and served as Vice Chair of the RTÉ Trade Union Group (TUG) for three years. He holds a BA in English & Economics from UCD and an MSc Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Robert is currently RTÉ’s Economics Correspondent.

9. Susan Ahern
Term of office: 13 July 2021-12 July 2026
Susan is a practising barrister, accredited mediator and international arbitrator. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, an arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport and was appointed to the CAS Anti-Doping Division for the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020.
Susan has over 25 years’ experience in commercial and sports law practice, sports administration and corporate governance as both an executive and as a non-executive director on numerous boards including Sport Ireland, Cricket Ireland and 2023 Cycling World Championships. Until 2016, Susan was the Head of Legal & Legislative Affairs at World Rugby, where she was central to the delivery of four Rugby World Cups and established the World Rugby Integrity Unit.
Today, Susan represents clients before the courts and tribunals, conducts inquiries, sits as an arbitrator and mediator, and has a number of regulatory roles sitting as an independent decision maker in professional disciplinary, conduct and commercial matters. Susan is an advisor to international bodies in particular in the areas of corporate governance and dispute resolution.

10. Daire Hickey
Term of office: 13 July 2021-12 July 2026
Daire Hickey is a founder and Managing Partner at 150Bond. He provides strategic advice to c-level executives helping them to amplify their message and grow their network. The firm has 30 executives based between New York and Dublin, it works with high growth companies, venture capitalists and Fortune 500 companies
Daire co-founded Web Summit. He is also an investor in a number of startups and venture firms and was previously a journalist.

11. David Harvey
Term of office: 13 July 2021-12 July 2026
David Harvey is a former television and radio presenter and award-winning television producer who has interests in a number of media-related and internationally focused companies. He has held a number of key managerial, production and board positions and has been chosen to bring these skills as a non-executive chairman and director to a range of other broadcast and non-broadcast related institutions and companies.
He was formerly chairman of the National Library of Ireland, IADT Dun Laoghaire and the St Patrick’s Festival. He served for many years as chairman of the People in Need Trust (which engaged with RTÉ in the promotion of the RTÉ/People in Need Telethon). He is also a former director of An Bord Bia and is currently chairman of the National Museum of Irish Art.
He holds a BBS and MA from Trinity College, Dublin.

12. Jonathan Ruane
Term of office: 08 March 2022-12 July 2026
Jonathan Ruane is a Lecturer and Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He is a faculty member within the Global Economics and Management group at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and a research lead at MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE). He is a former Fulbright recipient and an Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin. His research interests are at the intersection of digital economics, advanced computing, strategy, and international markets.
Jonathan teaches courses across MIT’s School of Management and MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). He co-led the development of a number of pioneering graduate courses at MIT in the areas of Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing. Prior to MIT, Jonathan was CEO of a VC backed software company that he co-founded and subsequently sold. He started his career in brand management with Procter & Gamble.
Jonathan is an experienced mountaineer including summits of Mount Everest and the Eiger. He competed in the US and internationally with MIT Rowing Club and was formerly an ultra-distance marathon runner.
Board Attendance
There were eight meetings of the Board of RTÉ in 2022. The attendance of board members is outlined below:
Meetings Eligible to Attend |
Meetings Attended |
|
The Board at 31 December 2022 |
||
Siún Ní Raghallaigh (Chair) |
1 |
1 |
Susan Ahern |
8 |
8 |
Dee Forbes |
8 |
8 |
David Harvey |
8 |
8 |
Daire Hickey |
8 |
8 |
Aideen Howard |
1 |
1 |
Ian Kehoe |
8 |
8 |
Dr P.J. Mathews |
8 |
8 |
Connor Murphy |
8 |
8 |
Anne O’Leary |
8 |
8 |
Jonathan Ruane |
7 |
6 |
Robert Shortt |
8 |
8 |
Ceased to be a Board member during 2022 | ||
Moya Doherty |
7 |
7 |
Deborah Kelleher |
7 |
6 |
Refer to the Corporate Governance report on page 102 for further explanation of the change in the composition of the Board during 2022.
Board Committees
Audit and Risk Committee
There were nine meetings during 2022, attended as follows:
Committee Members |
Meetings Eligible to Attend |
Meetings Attended |
Appointed to the Committee |
Anne O’Leary (Chair) |
9 |
8 |
27 November 2014 |
Susan Ahern |
9 |
9 |
16 September 2021 |
Ian Kehoe |
9 |
8 |
13 February 2020 |
Robert Shortt |
9 |
8 |
13 September 2018 |
Programme Committee
There were five meetings of the Programme Committee during 2022. The attendance is set out below:
Committee Members |
Meetings Eligible to Attend |
Meetings Attended |
Appointed to the Committee |
Dr P.J. Mathews (Acting Chair) |
5 |
5 |
27 November 2014 |
Daire Hickey |
5 |
5 |
16 September 2021 |
Board term of office ended during 2022 | |||
Deborah Kelleher |
4 |
4 |
27 November 2014 |
Fair Trading Committee
There were three meetings during 2022, with full attendance as follows:
Committee Members |
Meetings Eligible to Attend |
Meetings Attended |
Appointed to the Committee |
Ian Kehoe |
1 |
1 |
1 December 2022 |
Susan Ahern |
2 |
2 |
16 September 2021 |
Board term of office ended during 2022 | |||
Deborah Kelleher |
1 |
1 |
24 September 2015 |
Remuneration and Management Development Committee
No meetings of the Committee took place during 2022. The members of the Committee are Anne O’Leary (appointed 22 January 2015) and Connor Murphy (appointed 2 December 2021). Moya Doherty ceased to be a member of the Committee following the end of her term of office.
Digital Committee
Three meetings of the newly established Digital Committee took place during 2022, with full attendance as follows:
Committee Members |
Meetings Eligible to Attend |
Meetings Attended |
Appointed to the Committee |
Jonathan Ruane (Chair) |
3 |
3 |
7 July 2022 |
Connor Murphy |
3 |
3 |
7 July 2022 |
Robert Shortt |
3 |
3 |
7 July 2022 |
Attendance at Subsidiary Board Meetings
The attendance disclosures above refer to attendance by Board members at meetings of the RTÉ Board and its sub-committees. In addition, David Harvey, Daire Hickey, Ian Kehoe and Connor Murphy served on the Boards of subsidiary companies, with additional scheduled attendance at subsidiary Board meetings.