Regulator warned Government last year that RTÉ funding was too low

Ireland’s media regulator and an external consultancy firm both told the Government last year that RTÉ’s 2026 budget allocation of €240 million was not adequate to support the broadcaster’s five-year strategy and deliver the reforms the Coalition expected. The Government was also told the national broadcaster would face “particularly acute” cash flow issues in 2027, even if it received the €260 million earmarked for next year under a 2024 agreement with the previous government. Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan confirmed on Wednesday that the publicly owned broadcaster will receive €240 million again in 2027, €20 million less than the previous government had guaranteed in 2024.The decision has ignited a row between Montrose and the Government. READ MOREIn a report submitted to the minister in July 2025, consultancy firm Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates said that even the €240 million allocated for 2026 “is insufficient to fully support RTÉ’s sustainability, strategy and delivery of public service objectives”. The report was commissioned by Coimisiún na Meán as part of its annual review of public funding for RTÉ and TG4. In its letter to the minister accompanying the report, the regulator said it shared the consultants’ view that “the €240 million allocated to RTÉ for 2026 is not fully adequate to support RTÉ’s sustainability, Statement of Strategy and delivery of the [public service media] objects over time”.The commission said this view aligns with findings of a separate five-year review of funding adequacy for the Republic’s two publicly owned broadcasters, RTÉ and TG4. That review “raised significant concerns regarding RTÉ’s projected cash balance – particularly in 2027″.Under the terms of the multiyear framework agreed in 2024, most of the broadcaster’s funding is to come from licence fees. RTÉ required a €41.3 million top-up from the exchequer last year and director general Kevin Bakhurst said it would require €54.8 million this year. On Wednesday, O’Donovan suggested the decision to cut RTÉ’s funding next year relative to the 2024 agreement was due to the slow pace of reform in Montrose. However, in a letter to Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers, seen by The Irish Times, O’Donovan warned last week that the putative €827 million that was set to be allocated to his department in Budget 2027 was insufficient. O’Donovan and his junior minister, Charlie McConalogue, said that, among other things, it would mean his department would have to “renege” on the final year of the three-year funding deal for RTÉ. “In fact, we now envisage a cut to RTÉ funding next year in the order of €11 million,” the ministers told Chambers.The department received a further €21 million after tense budget negotiations over the weekend, which avoided the €11 million cut. Yet, funding for the broadcaster next year was reduced to €240 million from an expected €260 million.