The RTÉ Board should resign now instead of waiting for the next report criticising them, former Minister Shane Ross has said.
A report into the failure of 'Toy Show The Musical' has been published this afternoon.
It found that RTÉ transferred €75,000 in TV advertising money to 'sponsorship' of 'Toy Show The Musical' amid concerns over low sales.
The report found 'no evidence' that the RTÉ Board gave the live event the go-ahead in the first place, but that there is a "diversity of views" on the matter.
The production lost a total of €2.272 million.
Speaking ahead of the report's publication, Mr Ross told Newstalk Breakfast he believes the entire board should go.
"What's available from the minutes of the board show in fact the board was congratulating the executive of what had happened on Toy Show The Musical [which] just shows they did not do what they were obliged to do," he said.
"It's very bad news for them.
"They must have known, and if they didn't they certainly should have known, what was going on.
"It's just part of a pattern of things about the board which they've failed to recognise themselves."
'The net is closing in'
Mr Ross said he believes the board should go or be pushed.
"The net is closing in on them and they are being found responsible for what they didn't do," he said.
"This is the first of several reports; there's a report on corporate governance coming down the line about this board that is going to be, really, I think extremely difficult for the board to brazen out."
Mr Ross said he believes the position of the board has been untenable "for a very long time".
"They've successfully kept their heads down and blamed the executive," he said.
"The blame for this doesn't really matter in the end; they're all going to have to go at some stage and have a new board and a new RTÉ."
Mr Ross added that if the board is left in place, it would be 'a completely lame duck'.
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