RTÉ POSTED A deficit of €9.1 million in 2023, with the national broadcaster describing it as a “challenging year for the organisation”.

This is a stark increase on the deficit of €2.8 million recorded in 2022, which RTÉ described at the time as “modest”.

The broadcaster today released its Annual Report for 2023.

RTÉ revenue comes from both commercial sources and the TV licence.

Its total revenue was down €3.7 million between last year and 2022 - €344.0 million in 2023 vs €347.7 million in 2022.

However, RTÉ said a decline in TV licence revenues is one of the reasons for its net deficit.

The Licence fee income received by RTÉ last year was down €17.3 million when compared to 2022.

A spokesperson said “TV licence sales were negatively impacted by the RTÉ payments controversy”.

The spokesperson added that “while this decline was somewhat offset by the additional €15m of interim funding, this additional funding was already allocated in RTÉs 2023 plans”.

The interim funding meant that TV Licence revenue declined by €2.3 million (€193.3 million in 2023 vs €195.6 million in 2022).

RTÉ also pointed to an increase in operating costs as a driving force behind the deficit.

Operating costs, excluding special events, increased by €9.3 million year-on-year (€341.9 million in 2023 vs €332.6 million in 2022) as the 2022 pay agreement with RTÉ’s union took effect.

RTÉ also provided for additional amounts relating to the on-going investigation by the Department of Social Protection into the PRSI status of contractors.

Meanwhile, special events last year included the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, UEFA European qualifiers and the visit of US President Joe Biden, which cost RTÉ €7.4 million, an increase of €0.7 million on 2022.

Commercial revenue was also down slightly last year, with RTÉ taking in €150.7m versus €152.1m in 2022.

Director-General of RTÉ, Kevin Bakhurst acknowledged that last year was a “difficult year for all of us in RTÉ and for the many who had placed their trust in us”.

He said RTÉ has “faced the key issues head on and been committed to delivering the transformation RTÉ needs to rebuild trust and restore confidence”.

Bakhurst added that there is now “greater transparency, rigour in our decision-making and more financial discipline”.

He also said RTÉ is “grateful to all those who have paid their TV Licence during this period”.

Bakhurst said RTÉ “remain committed to addressing key issues, through the delivery of our five-year strategy”.

This strategy includes the loss of 400 jobs, limiting presenter salaries, and closing the RTÉ One +1 and RTÉ2 +1 channels.

Bakhurst also said RTÉ is “thankful for the multi-annual government funding which will enable us to plan ahead and to achieve our vision to evolve RTÉ”.

RTÉ is to receive €725 million in government funding over the next three years. 

Meanwhile, Chair of the Board of RTÉ, Terence O’Rourke, said that while the publication of the report is an “opportunity to reflect on the challenging year that 2023 was, we are very much focused on the important work now well underway to transform the organisation”.

Elsewhere, the report noted that RTÉ delivered 42 of the top 50 most-watched TV shows in Ireland last year.

It was also the biggest year for the RTÉ Player, with 35 million streaming hours across 105 million streams, with 1.8 million unique users a month.