Minister calls for ‘cool heads’ in RTÉ funding dispute

A Minister of State has called for “cool heads” to prevail in the public discourse about financing for RTÉ in the wake of a €20 million cut in funding to the broadcaster announced by the Minister for CommunicationsRTÉ is to receive less funding than envisaged in Budget 2027 due to Patrick O’Donovan’s dissatisfaction with what he called the broadcaster’s progress in implementing promised reforms.The expected funding for RTÉ for 2027 was €260 million as part of the €725 million multiyear agreement, but O’Donovan said next year’s allocation would stand at €240 million in line with the funding for 2026 – a decrease of €20 million. RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst has rejected O’Donovan’s assertion that the pace of reform at Montrose has been inadequate.READ MOREOn Thursday, Minister of State at the Department of Transport Seán Canney said the agreement between the Government and RTÉ was about more than just funding, it was also about performance.“When you have a written agreement, you also have more than just the funding. There’s also the performance of what you will do for that funding. And obviously, targets weren’t being met, so the funding had to be addressed,” the Independent TD for Galway East told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland programme. “And I do believe that what will happen here is that RTÉ and the Minister [O’Donovan] will see how progress is going over the next number of months and I’m sure further engagement will take place.”He said RTÉ’s “own commitment on voluntary return has been less than what was expected, and so therefore I think there is work to be done here, there’s discussions to be had, and I do believe that what we are doing is making sure that public money is being spent in the right way.“When you are giving money and you have an agreement, there are terms and conditions to that agreement, and one of them would be you would meet your target.[ Minister signalled Government was set to ‘renege’ on RTÉ deal in budget talksOpens in new window ]“What we need to do is make sure that RTÉ delivers on its commitment.”He said more funding would be made available as progress was made.“We need to have cool heads and we need to sit down and see what the performance will be over the next 12 months, and what the funding difficulties will be. And I think that’s the way to deal with it. And I think it’s very important that we have cool heads.”Canney said he thought discussions between the Minister for Communications and RTÉ would be ongoing and that the best way to resolve “an issue like this” was to “sit down in a room and work it out”.Co-chair of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) group in RTÉ, Trevor Keegan, told Morning Ireland he was shocked to hear of the €20 million reduction in funding for the State broadcaster next year.The announcement had come as a “bolt from the blue” and would have an impact on his members and colleagues and fellow unions across the organisation, he said.[ RTÉ ‘caught off-guard’ by €20m cut in funding in Budget 2027Opens in new window ]Keegan said the NUJ did not “necessarily support” the voluntary exit package and other elements of the five-year strategy. “What we do support is correct funding for this organisation. If the Minister really was brave, instead of just simply going for the easy option of docking money from the organisation, he and his colleagues would actually grasp the nettle that is the funding for this organisation that was mooted in the Future Media Commission Report 2022, a joint committee from the Oireachtas in 2024 saying that it should be exchequer funding that funds this organisation properly. None of them are willing to do that. “Instead, it’s the easy option: cut more money from RTÉ and expect us to do its remit for less.”Keegan described the situation in RTÉ as “a train wreck of a financial mess before this current DG took over”.“Since then, unions, the management, HR and staff had worked diligently ... to try and get this train back on the tracks. We are finally there, we thought, going forward. And now the minister expects us to hit the financial buffers.”