A Government decision on long-term funding for RTÉ will not occur until the new year, and will also likely require legislation, Minister for Media Catherine Martin has said.
Her comments came as RTÉ published plans for three separate registers for RTÉ staff and presenters, covering interests, outside activities as well as gifts received. The register is intended to apply to those earning €73,000 or more at the organisation.
The broadcaster published a scoping document for the planned register of interests, a separate register of external activities as well as a third register for gifts received.
Speaking on Tuesday, Ms Martin said she expects to bring RTÉ’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2022 to Cabinet at either its first or second meeting in September. This is expected to pave the way for the Government to provide short-term funding to RTÉ to cover its immediate deficit.
The Minister said she received a copy of the report in late June but is awaiting the completion of a review of it by New Era, an agency which provides financial advice to the Government.
“I received a letter from RTÉ before the (Ryan Tubridy payments) controversy looking for an exact figure (for interim funding) so it’s only right that New Era get a chance to study it forensically, to see what the actual needs are.”
A Government decision on interim funding for the beleaguered broadcaster is expected during September. However, the bigger decision on long-term funding will not be made until the Government receives the outcome of two external expert reports it has commissioned on finances and governance at RTÉ.
Ms Martin said that talks on the future funding of RTÉ were at “an advanced levels”, and the three party leaders in Government were involved.
Senior Government figures have said that any future payment model for RTÉ will be contingent on fundamental changes in governance and transparency within the organisation.
The payments controversy emerged in June when RTÉ chairman Siún Ní Raghallaigh disclosed that RTÉ underdeclared annual payments to Mr Tubridy between 2018 to 2020 by €120,000.
The broadcaster had then effectively paid Mr Tubridy €75,000 each year as part of a deal with Renault from 2021, with the final two payments being paid through an off-balance sheet barter account. That account, as well as other aspects of the unorthodox dealings in relation to payments to RTÉ's then top-paid broadcaster, have become the subject of several external examinations.
RTÉ on Tuesday outlined its proposals for a register of interests for staff and contractors, which covers outside interests and activities, potential conflicts of interests as well as gifts.
Activities such as requests for speaking engagements, chairing meetings, joining a panel/discussion group, promoting commercial ventures, including draws, raffles, prizes, brand ambassador arrangements among other activities would all be covered by the new process.
Ms Martin welcomed the announcement, saying it formed part of “the transparency and reform that we need to see”. She said she would like to see sanctions for noncompliance, but said it was not her role to prescribe what they might be.
The National Union of Journalists responded by saying the purpose of any register “must be to serve the public interest rather than public curiosity”. Emma O’Kelly, RTÉ's education correspondent and chair of the NUJ Dublin broadcasting branch, said staff in the broadcaster were approaching the new register “positively”.
