RTÉ is facing an extremely challenging financial situation and needs at least €34.5 million for 2024, the director general has said.
Kevin Bakhurst warned members of Oireachtas media committee that the failure to implement a new longer term funding model for public service media in Ireland would jeopardise the future of the national broadcaster.
Mr Bakhurst has introduced an immediate recruitment freeze and a halt to discretionary spending as RTÉ continues to grapple with fall in licence fee revenue following a series of controversies over the summer.
Here are some of the main points from the committee hearing:
- Kevin Bakhurst insisted RTÉ was not on the verge of bankruptcy but acknowledged the organisation was facing an “extremely challenging financial situation”.
- Mr Bakhurst said a full or partial sale of RTE’s Montrose site in Dublin was being considered and said "All options are on table."
- Director general Kevin Bakhurst said a voluntary redundancy programme would be one option to reduce the size of RTÉ.
- Bakhurst said there was no plan agreed for Ryan Tubridy to repay €150,000 he had been paid in advance by RTE for future personal appearances with a commercial partner.
- When asked about how much money RTÉ is seeking to help with their financial issues, Bakhurst said they are seeking interim funding of €34.5 million for 2024.
You can view all of the updates from the committee meeting down below:
17:05pm
The Director General said RTÉ needs to bring down presenter salaries down in general and that is the current trend. Bakhurst said the new leadership board evaluates what value the broadcaster brings to the station and their audience.
16:50pm
When asked about how much money RTÉ is seeking to help with their financial issues, Bakhurst said they are seeking interim funding of €34.5 million for 2024.
He said he cannot give any assurances that there will not be any compulsory redundancies but said he is doing everything he can, so it will not get to that point.
16:43pm
People Before Profit TD asked the RTÉ board why they have not considered having salary caps for its highest earners. Bakhurst said they are considering a number of cost-cutting measures at the moment.
16:30pm
Ian Kehoe said he felt 'frustrated' about some of the answers he received when questioning the payments made to Ryan Tubridy.
16:18pm
RTÉ board member David Harvey said despite what has happened he has been encouraged with the changes he has seen so far, and he believes they have an excellent chair and director general in place.
16:01pm
Senator Marie Sherlock asked Bakhurst about the contract negotiations with Ryan Tubridy to which Bakhurst said the remuneration committee fully scrutinised the negotiations and asked relevant questions around any deal.
15:30pm
Journalist Ian Kehoe of the Currency and deputy chairman of the board is making his debut at the hearings. “I think we’ve seen the best of RTÉ, but unfortunately we’ve also seen the worst of RTÉ. I think the chair described the events as being unseemly, and it’s portrayed RTÉ in a really bad light, rightly so.”
However, he said that it was important to “look at all the work that the journalists have done in order to pursue the story vigorously and not turn a blind eye to it.” He said they “showed a level of professionalism” that the board could be “really proud” of.
15:05pm
Director general Kevin Bakhurst said there was no plan agreed for Ryan Tubridy to repay €150,000 he had been paid in advance by RTE for future personal appearances with a commercial partner.
When Tubridy appeared before Oireachtas members earlier in the summer he indicated a willingness to pay the money back if the personal appearance events did not materialise.
Talks between Mr Bakhurst and Tubridy about his potential return to the RTE airwaves broke down in August.
Mr Bakhurst was asked whether a payment plan was in place for the €150,000.
“The answer is no,” he replied.
“I asked him about that money. I said in the previous committee I appeared in that I thought (while) we don’t have a legal mechanism to get it back, because it was agreed by RTÉ, but I think there’s a moral case there.
“I asked him about it. It was in your documents (RTÉ documents sent to media committee members) that it was part of the proposed deal if he came back that he was agreeing, if he came back, to repay that money.”
He added: “We have no legal tools to pursue him. I’ve said what I have to say about it, which is I think it’s a moral case to pay it back, but I also understand that as a result of where negotiations went Ryan doesn’t have a source of income at the moment.”
arrive for a Committee meeting on Transparency of RTE’s expenditure of public funds and governance issues.
15:00pm
Director general Kevin Bakhurst said a voluntary redundancy programme would be one option to reduce the size of RTÉ.
But he said such schemes cost money, and he did not have enough funds to run one currently.
“Part of the plan will be a smaller organisation and one of the ways of achieving that is through voluntary paid redundancies and targeted redundancy,” he said.
14:46pm
When asked by Senator Ciarán Cannon whether RTÉ has considered moving outside of Dublin and possibly to Galway, Bakhurst said they are considering all options when it comes to selling the site and possibly moving.
"Most of our high quality dramas have been filmed outside of Dublin (besides Kin) and we are committed to doing more of that in the future.
“I would say that the location of everything is under consideration in terms of the strategy but one of the things we are focusing on is about moving more staff and production out of Dublin,” he said.
14:43pm
Bakhurst said when it comes to presenters salaries they will have to go through the board before being approved in the future. He said there will be much more scrutiny as well over their salaries.
14:34pm
Kevin Bakhurst said RTÉ license fee income this year was €197 million, but there was a shortfall of €21 million which had recently been made public.
14:25pm
Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne asked what reassurances can RTÉ give to independent producers when it comes to issues with funding.
Bakhurst said "we rely on them to help produce some of our quality shows." He said if he was allowed he would like to fund the independent sector even more.
14:18pm
RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst expressed concern that the broadcaster had paid for membership of an exclusive private members’ club in London, Soho House.
He was challenged by Sinn Féin committee member Imelda Munster that the club was used by RTÉ more for accommodation than for holding meetings, which was the stated justification for taking the membership.
“I would say that I find it shocking in the first place that we had that membership to be honest with you,” Mr Bakhurst replied.
He later added: “I don’t start to understand some of these decisions that were made, to be honest with you.”
14:10pm
On the issue of giving RTE managers car allowances without them needing to have a driving licence, Kevin Bakhurst said the payments was not correctly named.
He said the allowances were not related to cars and should instead be called “management allowances”.
Mr Bakhurst said he was not sure why they were called car allowances when they were introduced in the 1980s.
“They are management allowances, that’s what they should be called in my view or they should be part of salaries that we declare, full stop,” he said.
14:07pm
Kevin Bakhurst insisted RTÉ was not on the verge of bankruptcy.
“We are having to manage our cash extremely carefully, but we’re not on the verge of bankruptcy and I wouldn’t be able to run the organisation under my statutory responsibilities if I thought we were, and we’re not,” he told the media committee.
He acknowledged the organisation was facing an “extremely challenging financial situation”.
13:51pm
Fianna Fáil Senator, Micheál Carrigy has asked what cost-cutting measures have been put in place by RTÉ in recent months.
Kevin Bakhurst said the broadcaster is "facing into a financial crisis" and are freezing recruitment in the short term.
“I’m pulling every lever I can to try and preserve cash because that is my duty, and that’s the duty of the board to make sure that we as an organisation do not run out of money,” he said.
Mr Bakhurst said a full or partial sale of RTE’s Montrose site in Dublin was being considered.
“All options are on table,” he said.
He said a professional valuation of the site was under way, but he highlighted that a sale could potentially be complicated by the fact that several of the buildings were listed.
13:45pm
In his opening statement RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said the majority of staff in RTÉ are 'diligent' and 'highly skilled'.
Bakhurst said he has appointed an interim leadership team as part of his reforms. A staff survey is being sent around and there will also be further staff consultation.
He said it is clear that the current tv licence model is not working and RTÉ are looking at other ways to fund the broadcaster.
13:39pm
RTÉ board chairwoman Siun Ní Raghaillagh said in her opening statement that over the past few months public trust has been eroded.
She said this lack of trust has led to a downfall in revenue in recent months.
“A secure future for RTÉ is by no means guaranteed,” she said.
“This is currently an organisation under immense pressure across a number of fronts.
“Critically, the erosion of that trust has helped create immediate financial pressures.
“This needs to be resolved as a matter of urgency and is a matter of immediate focus for the board and the interim leadership team.
“A secure future for RTÉ means having purpose and direction, and making choices and taking decisions.
“The director general and his team will soon complete a strategic review of the organisation.
“I expect that the review would then shape what will be a costed restructuring plan.
“As part of that, hard decisions must be made in order to achieve a fit-for-purpose public service broadcaster.
“These decisions may not be popular with stakeholders and policymakers, including perhaps this committee.”
Additional reporting PA
