RTÉ WILL NEED to make €21m in cutbacks if the licence fee does not recover, Media Minister Catherine Martin said today.
The figure was recommended in the NewERA report into RTÉ’s finances and is the projected shortfall for the broadcaster in terms of licence fee intake by year end.
Martin said today that she is withholding additional funding of €40 million from RTÉ until it produces its strategic vision for reform.
It comes after interim funding of just €16 million had been allocated to RTÉ in yesterday’s Budget.
RTÉ was plunged into crisis in June when the broadcaster revealed it had not correctly declared fees to its then-highest-paid earner Ryan Tubridy.
The scandal widened as a series of other financial and governance issues emerged.
Earlier this year, prior to the emergence of controversies, RTÉ submitted a request for €34.5 million in additional interim funding for next year.
Since then, its revenues have taken a further major hit, with the broadcaster currently projecting a loss of €21 million euro by year end due to a fall in TV licence payments in the wake of the controversies.
That €21 million gap in revenue was on top of a deficit of seven million euro RTÉ had already budgeted for in 2023.
Martin told a post-Budget press conference that the State’s financial advice body NewERA had recommended €16 million in funding for RTÉ, in line with the recommendations of the Future of Media Commission.
She said it had also recommended an additional €40 million in relation to the shortfall of TV licences, but that is currently being withheld.
On withholding the €40 million, Martin said: “That’s the piece where we need the strategic vision. So, we’re not committing to doing that until we see the reform plan.”
Martin said she believes RTÉ’s director-general Kevin Bakhurst will produce a reform plan for the crisis-hit broadcaster in late October or early November.
Sh added: “The funding is still not going to be allocated in any shape or form until we see that strategic vision.”
Elsewhere, the broadcaster confirmed its chief financial officer Richard Collins has resigned.
Collins featured prominently in the Oireachtas Committee hearings following the controversy surrounding the pay of Ryan Tubridy.
In one of the most dramatic moments from those hearings, Collins admitted that he was unsure of his exact salary.
Bakhurst delivered the news of Collins’ resignation to staff today.
Additional reporting from PA.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say