RTÉ executive pay increased 10% last year as deficit rose to €2.8m

RTÉ has reported a €2.8 million deficit for 2022 in a year that saw the failure of its Toy Show The Musical venture and a fall in TV licence fee revenues.

RTÉ’s annual report for 2022 also details a 10 per cent increase in executives’ salaries in the form of a restoration of a previous cut.

It also outlines how €15 million in additional State funding provided last year is not expected to be enough to offset all of the cost increases the national broadcaster faces in 2023.

Chairwoman Siún Ní Raghallaigh said the annual report was finalised before the “crisis and turbulence of recent times” – a reference to the huge controversy over secret payments to former Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy.

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[ Ryan Tubridy returns to airwaves as guest on Chris Evans’s UK breakfast show ]

Most of the €2.8 million deficit is down to losses related to the ill-fated Toy Show The Musical production which lost €2.2 million.

The stage show was part of RTÉ's strategy to develop live ticketed events, the annual report says, and “while this show received favourable reviews, ticket sales were below expectations, not helped by the fact that a number of shows had to be cancelled due to illness amongst the cast”.

The report details an increase in executives’ pay.

It says: “As part of cost-reduction initiatives prior to the onset of the global pandemic, the members of the executive had agreed to a salary reduction of 10 per cent, this reduction was reinstated from September 2022.”

Former director general Dee Forbes’s remuneration package increased from €306,000 in 2021 to €316,000 in 2022, a €10,000 increase.

Total licence fee revenue was €195.6 million in 2022, down €500,000 on the previous year.

It separately emerged on Wednesday that RTÉ is projected to lose €21 million in licence fee revenue by the end of this year due to falling sales in the wake of the recent controversy.

RTÉ's commercial revenue stood at €152.1 million in 2022, up €3.8 million on 2021.

In terms of the outlook for this year, the financial review says: “RTÉ's cost base in 2023 will rise significantly due to inflationary pressures and also due to the investment required in digital projects to transform RTÉ for the changing media consumption landscape.”

It notes that in December 2022 a pay deal was agreed with staff which will see pay rise by 6 per cent over the next two years.

The document adds: “The €15 million additional public funding received in December 2022 under The Future of Media Commission recommendations will help offset some, but not all, of these cost increases.”

RTÉ has confirmed it is seeking some €34.5 million in additional State funding from the Government this year.

The report was sent to Minister for Media Catherine Martin at the end of June as the controversy erupted over Mr Tubridy’s pay.

In her statement on Wednesday, Ms Ní Raghallaigh said the report “deals with the RTÉ of 2022. It does not deal with the changing RTÉ of 2023”.

She said the report “does set out the significant and ongoing contribution of RTÉ staff and the independent production sector in producing diverse, quality programming for television, digital and radio platforms”.

Ms Ní Raghalliagh said the restatement of Mr Tubridy’s earnings on June 22nd – following RTÉ's previous public under-declaration of his pay – had “no impact on our audited financial statements”.

She said two payments to Mr Tubridy of €75,000 recorded in the so-called barter account are processed in the accounts as a charge of €115,000 each, “being the grossed-up cost to the barter account when allowing for 35 per cent commission”.

This total of €230,000 is included in RTÉ's overall operating costs of almost €339.3 million and the invoices “were referenced as promotion costs and booked as such”.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh adds: “For the avoidance of doubt, it should be noted that, subsequent to the completion of this report, Grant Thornton LLP established that the payments in question were not, in fact, promotion costs.”

She said the annual report “represents a particular moment in time for RTÉ, a time when a different culture was prevalent. “But now we must deal with the legacy of this siloed and dysfunctional culture. “As an organisation we cannot shy away from the shortcomings and challenges that have been identified. Nor will we.”