The broadcaster stated that the chauffeur services included six seaters, minibuses and saloon cars over the six years.
An RTÉ spokesperson said that programmes are required to provide transport for guests to their studios. The guests include singers, authors, actors, musicians and more. These services are typically provided for programmes such as the Late Late Show.
Taxis are also included in the total €230,000 for guests, participants and presenters. The broadcaster explained that they needed transport services for live events and performances and live sports programming.
The spokesperson continued to explain that the chauffeur services "reflect the comprehensive nature of RTÉ's operations, including those outside of public transport hours," according to a report in RTÉ.
The matter was discussed in the Dail, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that the government does not in "any shape or form defend any excessive or unnecessary expenditure" by RTÉ.
Martin's rebuttal was aimed towards Sinn Fein's leader Mary Lou McDonald, she told the house that "there is no end to RTÉ's sense of entitlement in its attitude to the spending of public money… and no end, it seems, either to the lack of oversight from your Government".
"Now, this isn't to be confused with your common or garden taxi," Ms McDonald said and she stated that the money was spent on luxury cars for guests and presenters.
Martin told the house that RTÉ is being brought under the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General and PAC to provide a "specific mechanism to hold RTÉ to account for the type of expenditure that you've just described".
Fine Gael TD Brian Brennan asked Minister for Media Patrick O'Donovan if he had confidence in the broadcaster's chair, board and director general.
"I have a very simple answer, do I have confidence in the chair, the board and the director general? I do. And I do on the basis of they inherited a bag of you know what, and they have had to try and untangle that and put this thing back together after the way in which it had been run for years," O'Donovan said.
"There's a combination of issues there as to why it was run the way it was run. There was probably a bit of 'if I have it - I'll spend it' attitude and then 'I didn't have it, so I couldn't spend it', but they continued to spend it. There's no doubt about it that the current generation of leadership in the organisation have inherited more than their fair share of you know what. "This generation of leaders have done a lot of positive work. You are right though, there is a morale issue, the company themselves said this, but the only way that is going to be addressed is when they see the continued positive output of the organisation, and they're on the right track. I firmly believe they're on the right track," he continued.
