RTÉ says €20m cut in funding will impact on strategy as Minister criticises pace of reforms

RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst has rejected Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan’s assertion that the pace of reform at Montrose has been inadequate after the Government cut the national broadcaster’s funding in Budget 2027.RTÉ reached a landmark multiyear 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.However, O’Donovan announced on Wednesday RTÉ would receive €240 million next year, saying that he was not happy with the pace of change at the broadcaster and its transition to being a “more agile, smaller” organisation.The decision appears to have been made at the last minute and, according to Bakhurst, it caught the broadcaster off guard. He told staff in an email on Wednesday that he “completely rejects the assertion that the pace of reform has been too slow.”READ MOREBakhurst said the decision “is one we had not anticipated and will inevitably impact our ability to deliver our five-year strategy”.Over the past two years, RTÉ has axed its in-house documentary unit, outsourced its religious affairs programming, and cancelled Upfront with Katie Hannon. It has also set out plans to outsource Fair City and The Late Late Show. However, the Government has reportedly been disappointed by the pace of a job-shedding programme, through which RTÉ aimed to cut 400 jobs.“I think it is well documented that you know that there were issues with regard to the voluntary redundancy that could be achieved in the last round, and obviously we would hope that that would be able to be advanced,” O’Donovan said on Wednesday.[ RTÉ set to run up four-year €960,000 Dublin hotels bill for contributors and celebrity guestsOpens in new window ]Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times Speaking at a press conference, the minister also said his department had “very little scope, in relation to what resources we had available”.Most of the State funding to RTÉ is to come from licence fees. However, RTÉ required a €41.3 million top-up from the exchequer last year. Bakhurst told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee in July that the organisation will also need €54.8 million in direct funding this year from the Government, due to an ongoing decline in licence fee revenues.In a statement earlier, Bakhurst said RTÉ had “some important decisions to make” if the funding agreement it had with the Government “will no longer be honoured”.On job cuts, he said the broadcaster had “already managed to exit almost 100 people from the organisation, despite the late approval of the voluntary exit programme and a short window to enable people to leave.“The Government’s decision to reduce this public funding agreement by €20 million at this late stage, when we have already made important commitments to our audiences, to the independent sector, to other important stakeholders and to RTÉ staff, is one we had not anticipated and will inevitably impact on our ability to deliver our five-year strategy. “If the three-year multiannual agreement will no longer be honoured – we now have some important decisions to make.”[ RTÉ’s new Listen app tells us some things about its future direction but keeps others hiddenOpens in new window ]