Minister signalled Government was set to ‘renege’ on RTÉ deal in budget talks

Minister for media Patrick O’Donovan warned before the budget that the Government would “renege” on its funding deal with RTÉ if more cash wasn’t found for his department.In a letter last week, Minister for Media Patrick O’Donovan told Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers that, based on what was being offered, “the Government (not the Department) will renege on the three-year funding deal agreed with RTÉ in July 2024”.In the final reckoning, an additional €21 million was allocated to O’Donovan’s department after the letter.However, RTÉ’s allocation remained the same as 2026 at €240 million, €20 million less than it was expecting under a multi-year bailout deal between the then-government and the broadcaster.READ MOREThe RTÉ funding allocation has sparked a major row between Montrose and the Government.O’Donovan warned in his letter last Friday that based on the offer then on the table for his department, which stood at €827 million, RTÉ’s funding would in fact be cut by €11 million.He also warned of funding consequences for a raft of other agencies including Sport Ireland and the Arts Council if no more money was forthcoming.The final allocation to his department, which is responsible for culture and sport as well as media, was €848 million.[ RTÉ says €20m cut in funding will impact on strategy as Minister criticises pace of reformsOpens in new window ]It is understood that the budget ministers Chambers and Tánaiste Simon Harris, and Taoiseach Micheál Martin, believed that extra funding made available to the Department of Communications during tense budget negotiations over the weekend would solve any difficulties with the RTÉ allocation, but were only made aware of this issue on the day the budget was announced.A Government source said “this only came to our attention yesterday [on budget day].”RTÉ director-general Kevin Bakhurst. Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins Photo Agency On Wednesday O’Donovan denied that the move was a “cut” to RTÉ’s funding, despite the previous government promising to increase the broadcaster’s funding to €260 million next year.“Over the lifetime of the three-year package of the bailout, it amounts to almost three-quarters of a billion euros,” he said. “That is an enormous amount of money from the taxpayers.”He said he was not happy with the pace of change at the broadcaster and its transition to being a “more agile, smaller” organisation.In an email to staff, RTÉ director-general Kevin Bakhurst said he “completely rejects” O’Donovan’s assertion that the pace of reform at Montrose has been too slow.Bakhurst said the station now had “some important decisions to make” if the previous agreement made with the government “will no longer be honoured”.RTÉ reached a multi-year funding deal with the previous government in 2024. Under the agreement, the broadcaster would receive €725 million over three years: €225 million in 2025, €240 million in 2026, and €260 million in 2027.Bakhurst told staff the decision to cut the funding for 2027 “is one we had not anticipated and will inevitably impact our ability to deliver our five-year strategy.”The station’s chairman, Terence O’Rourke, is seeking an urgent meeting with O’Donovan, RTÉ said. It is understood O’Donovan is due to bring a memo to Cabinet in the coming weeks on future funding options for RTÉ.Elsewhere, public sector unions said Budget 2027 was a missed opportunity for Chambers to signal his seriousness about preventing next week’s one day national strike.Kevin Callinan, who chairs the Irish Congress of Trade Unions - and will lead the union side in negotiations to replace the expired public pay deal - said in the summer the unions would take account of whatever measures were in the budget when it came to framing their pay claim in talks. Callinan said on Wednesday the Minister had failed to “move the dial”.In the Dáil, the Taoiseach said a dispute “would be unwarranted given our willingness to talk”.Some €1.2 billion has been set aside in the budget for a public pay deal. Martin said “there is no basis for industrial action or for disrupting people in education, health or anything else when this platform is there as a basis for negotiation on a new pay agreement”.[ TG4 and Screen Ireland budget funding amounts to ‘cut’ in real terms, industry warnsOpens in new window ]