Paschal Donohoe warns of consequences for public service broadcasting if RTÉ is financially unstable

The Minister for Public Expenditure has warned of the consequences for society if RTÉ is not adequately funded into the future.

Paschal Donohoe gave a strong indication on Friday morning that he wants RTÉ to be properly resourced and continue with its current structure for funding which relies on commercial income as well as the TV licence.

In what was received as a strong endorsement of the RTÉ model, Mr Donohoe said: “When I hear [people using] the language of bailouts, we need to also be aware of what the consequences would be of an RTÉ that would not be financially stable. I believe a public broadcaster has a really important role to play in our society.”

Mr Donohoe, speaking at an event in Ballybough, Dublin, said he would have discussions with Minister for Media Catherine Martin over the next number of weeks on RTÉ's funding requirements. He said that any decision would be grounded on the financial analysis conducted by the Government’s financial and economic advisory agency, New Era.

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He said he would “not lose sight” of the importance of commercial revenue that RTÉ would continue to attract. “I’ll certainly not lose sight of the over €100 million which is still being brought in by television licence.”

He said that both of those elements would be essential.

Asked if RTÉ executives should return the 10 per cent salary raise they received in 2022 at a time when the broadcaster reported annual losses, Mr Donohoe said that such decisions were for RTÉ and not for him.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, who was also speaking at the event in Ballybough, said it was important to have a public service broadcaster in which people had confidence.

“There needs to be a huge element of reform. But we also have to acknowledge that a huge amount of good work has been done by the staff day-in day-out and providing public service broadcasting for people across this country,” Ms McEntee said.

Speaking about the issue of misgendering, Ms McEntee said that a person misgendering somebody else would not form the basis for hate crime under the new hate crime legislation she hopes to have enacted by Christmas.

Asked if misgendering would be prosecutable as some have suggested may happen in the UK, Ms McEntee said: “It is not the case of criminalising people who insult others or who might misgender another person. This is very clearly about introducing crime and hate speech legislation.”

[ How did the hate speech Bill find itself at the centre of a swirling culture war? ]

Asked about the visit of Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to Dubai, Ms McEntee said it showed his and the force’s “determination to dismantle the Kinahan organised crime group and other organised crime groups”.

She said the transnational aspect of crime made it necessary for An Garda Síochána to build relationships with other police services and other governments as well.