RTÉ spent almost €57,000 on sending 41 staff members to cover Ireland’s World Cup playoff match in Czechia last March, new documents reveal.

In a letter to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the broadcaster stood over the cost for the journey, which was approved at director general level.

Head of public affairs Vivienne Flood said all financial and staffing decisions were based on the determination that there was a ‘strong public interest’ in the match.

She detailed how RTÉ put a schedule together which ‘allowed Irish fans who couldn’t be there to join in the excitement’, which was reflected in audience engagement figures.

The letter, seen by Extra.ie, was written to the chairman of the PAC, Sinn Féin TD John Brady, and circulated to members ahead of a meeting tomorrow morning.

RTÉ management and senior executives are due to appear before the PAC this month, where it is likely they will face questions over the decision. In the letter ahead of its appearance, Ms Flood says the deployment of staff was authorised by several senior editorial managers, including the directors of video and audio, Steve Carson and Patricia Monahan.

The letter adds that deputy director general Adrian Lynch and director general Kevin Bakhurst extended their ‘full support’ to sending staff to Prague.

The station spent €56,756.32 on travel, accommodation and expenses, a portion of which were ‘offset by the contribution of a commercial sponsor’, Ms Flood wrote.

She said details surrounding the sponsorship deal were ‘commercially sensitive’ and did not provide the name of the sponsor or related costs to the PAC.

Promo material from the time claims RTÉ’s coverage was ‘in association with’ Cadbury, which was contacted for comment. Mr Bakhurst told the Oireachtas in May that the station earned a profit, despite the number of staff it sent to Prague.

RTÉ claims that, among the 41 staff, 12 were in on-air presenter roles, six were journalists reporting on the game and 12 served in editorial production roles.

Nine were sent as part of a tech team for live broadcasts, and two more commercial team members were sent as part of a sponsorship deal.

Extra.ie has identified 20 of the 41 staff members and contractors, including from the News and Current Affairs Department, who were in attendance and broadcasting live from Prague.

Staff from outside the Sport Department included RTÉ News Eastern correspondent Samantha Libreri, 2FM presenters Demi Isaac and Mikey O’Reilly, and Liveline’s Kieran Cuddihy.

Radio producers Damien Gavigan and Ciarán Cullen were credited by Mr Cuddihy, Ms Isaac, and Mr O’Reilly at the end of their programmes, which were hosted live from Prague.

Sports correspondent Paul O’Flynn, soccer correspondent Tony O’Donoghue and reporter and podcast host Raf Diallo were deployed to report on the match.

Sports presenters Darragh Maloney, Des Cahill and Marie Crowe provided television and radio coverage. Ms Crowe hosted RTÉ’s Inside Sport, produced on site by Tom Norton and Adrian Eames.

Didi Hamann and Shay Given appeared as pundits from the stadium, with presenter Mr Maloney. Pundits John Kenny and Kenny Cunningham provided live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1.

Additionally, commentators Des Curran and Ronnie Whelan were at the Fortuna Arena on the night for RTÉ’s TV coverage. RTÉ’s Ms Flood, in her letter, wrote that the audience statistics showed there was ‘exceptionally high public interest in this event’.

She said audiences’ needs were ‘effectively met’ and cited commitments in RTÉ’s strategy to remain ‘relevant’.

Appearing before the Oireachtas Media Committee in May, Mr Bakhurst said RTÉ earned a profit from the trip.

He said: ‘Of the 41 people who went, 21 were for radio coverage. Alongside our public service commitment, the amount of commercial revenue that was driven by those radio programmes, in terms of extra advertising and sponsorship, more than paid for all of those people to go. In fact, we made a profit on it for those 21 people.’

According to the letter, the match was the ‘most-watched programme’ of the year on Irish TV, and reached 1.6million viewers at its peak. Another 1.06million streamed it on RTÉ Player, the highest number of concurrent viewers ever recorded for a programme on the platform.

Ms Flood said radio listenership rose by 120% between 8pm and 10pm, compared with the previous day. Listenership from 10pm to midnight was up by 268%.

A spokeswoman for RTÉ echoed her remarks, saying the live broadcasts ‘provided coverage of this national movement across a number of days’.