All options are “on the table” for the future funding of RTÉ, including direct State funding or a levy on households to pay for the national broadcaster, Minister for Arts and Media Catherine Martin has said.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin today, Ms Martin said consecutive Governments have “failed here in grasping this nettle” and that she was “absolutely determined” to be the Minister to take a decision on the longer-term funding model for RTÉ, indicating that a decision was hoped for in the early part of next year.
She said the question of long-term funding of the broadcaster has been under discussion by officials since the summer, although a decision has been paused. She said she would like to bring the process to a conclusion in the lifetime of the Government.
“I believe everything should be on the table,” she said, with a technical group of officials looking at alternatives to exchequer funding, adding that she had conveyed that to the leaders of the Coalition parties. “All options, the technical working group have examined, plus I believe exchequer funding should be on the table too”.
RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst has said that a suitable long-term funding model was vital to push through the reforms outlined in his report, with which Ms Martin agreed. “Without a long-term funding model, this strategy can’t be delivered. So this Government must make that decision.”
“I don’t think the decision will be easy, but what I’m saying is we will take the decision, we will be the Government to do this and I will be the minister that will deliver on this.”
She called on the Opposition parties to help with the swift passage of any legislative changes that might be required. Ms Martin indicated it would be February before a decision was made on the future funding model but that there was a need to “move quickly” thereafter.
She said she was glad to see there would be no compulsory redundancies, but that consultation would be key to the voluntary redundancy scheme announced on Tuesday, which will seek up to 400 redundancies. She said it was not her place to “pick and choose” elements of the RTÉ strategy and indicated that while she understood the concerns of staff and their families, she would not stand in the way of the job cutbacks taking place.
Ms Martin said the strategy published by RTÉ on Tuesday shows a “welcome renewed commitment to public service broadcasting and to cost efficiencies and essential governance reforms”.
She welcomed the commitment to link pay at the broadcaster to the salary of the Director General, saying it is “only right” that nobody would earn more than the leader of an organisation where they work.
Ms Martin confirmed that a €56 million bailout for RTÉ would be released in tranches, the first being €16 million already approved in the budget. The remaining €40 million will be approved by a dedicated unit in her Department in conjunction with NewERA, the State’s value-for-money unit which helps manage shareholdings in semi state companies.
“The first tranche of that €40 million will not be released until we see the recommendations of the two expert advisory committees that the Government commissioned,” she said. The findings from those committees, which are looking at governance and culture at the broadcaster, are expected early in 2024. She said progress was also expected before the release of funds on a register of interests and external activities for staff at RTÉ.
A second tranche would come in the second half of next year, and she indicated NewERA would be monitoring compliance with goals such as the saving of €10 million in cost efficiencies before that funding is released.
Ms Martin said public service broadcasting is a public good that must be protected, and indicated she was hopeful that the Government would be in a position to release the funding. “It’s a bigger problem if we’re not seeing delivery on governance reforms”.
