Government will provide interim cash for RTÉ pending review of funding model, says McGrath

Minister for Finance Michael McGrath said it is too early yet to say exactly how much interim funding RTÉ would need in this year’s budget, but the Government was committed to ensuring its continued operation pending a broader review of the public service funding model.

Mr McGrath said that Minister for Media Catherine Martin would obtain an estimated interim funding requirement from RTÉ, and she would then negotiate on this with his colleague, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe before the budget.

Last month, Mr McGrath signed a statutory instrument under Section 18(3) of the National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act 2014 that allows RTÉ and TG4 to qualify for financial and commercial assistance under the auspices of the New Economy and Recovery Authority (NewERA).

“The budget is six weeks away at this stage and we recognise that there is going to be a significant interim funding ask by RTÉ so the way that will work is it will come up through the line department,” said Mr McGrath on his way to attend a regional meeting of IBEC in Cork.

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“Minister Martin will engage with New Era under the NTMA who will advise on what may be an appropriate level of support to sustain the provision of core public service broadcasting and then she will negotiate with my colleague, Minister Donohoe on the expenditure side as part of the estimates.

“There will then be the wider more medium to long term issue of ensuring there is a sustainable funding model into the future for RTÉ, particularly in the context that we want to see progress made in terms of the culture at RTÉ and the necessary reforms that the DG is now seeking to implement.”

Mr McGrath refused to be drawn on a Sunday Independent story that former RTÉ director general Dee Forbes signed off on audited accounts for the gated community that she has a holiday home in West Cork after declining to attend an Oireachtas committee hearing into the RTÉ controversy due to ill-health.

“We want everybody, who has a contribution to make to a full understanding among politicians and among the public of what happened at RTÉ, to make themselves available as and when they can. My understanding is that she has been unable to do so because of ill health,” he said.

Mr McGrath said that he did not know the details of what accounts Ms Forbes had signed off on, but he stressed that her attendance at the Oireachtas Committee hearings into RTÉ and payments to broadcaster Ryan Tubridy were really a matter for Ms Forbes and her doctors.

“She is somebody who has first-hand knowledge of many of the events that have been the subject of recent Oireachtas hearings. I think to be fair, it’s matter for her and for her medical advisers as to when she is available and when she is able for what is a difficult and challenging environment.

“So, we do want to see her come before the Oireachtas committee, but it is a matter for her and her medical advisers as to when she is fit and able to do so I don’t want to add further pressure. But we do want to see her come before the committee but it’s a matter for her medical advisers.”

“But we would hope and expect that as soon as she’s well enough to come before an Oireachtas committee and contribute to providing the answers that people want to need that she will do so but I don’t have any further information beyond that.”