The government agreed to provide €56 million (£48. 7 million) of additional investment to RTE after the organisation published plans to reduce its investment to €400 million by 2028.
Ministers on Tuesday approved the interim financing plan, which will be subject to certain conditions.
The resolution was shown when RTE’s chief executive, Kevin Bakhurst, informed unions of his planned cost-cutting measures for the crisis-hit broadcaster.
A key detail of the strategic reform plan is a voluntary redundancy plan, estimated at €40 million, which would reduce pay from 400% to 20% compared to the existing plan.
Next year, spending will be reduced by at least €10 million.
“2024 will be a challenging year and one where we will want to manage our charge base carefully. Difficult possible choices will be presented,” Bakhurst said at the beginning of the report.
The €56 million provided through the government will cover planned investment gaps within the organisation this year and next.
The gap in the channel’s finances has widened in recent months due to a sharp drop in TV licence profits collected after a summer of controversy within the public service broadcaster.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar showed that new investments had been agreed on Tuesday at a press conference in Dublin.
But he clarified that the strategic plan developed through RTE did require government approval.
“The strategic plan is an RTE plan, drawn up through the control of RTE and its board of directors, it requires government approval,” he said.
“This is an RTE for RTE.
“On the interim funding factor, the Government said today that there will be interim investments for RTE this year and also next year, but they will be subject to certain conditions, the achievement of certain milestones and the implementation of certain reforms. “
The strategic reform plan “A new direction for RTE”, published on Tuesday, provides for the abolition of the television channels RTE One 1 and RTE2 1, as well as the virtual radio stations RTE Radio 1 Extra, RTE 2XM, RTE Pulse and RTEjr Radio. .
The plan prioritises upgrading technology and online content and expanding its production centre in Cork, while opening one in Dublin.
The company will also rely more on independent productions, as it aims to increase its “global investment to 50%. “
“We will continue to offer outreach events and multi-genre content, providing a varied mix of live action and video and audio animation in English and Irish, created primarily through the Irish independent production sector,” he said of reaching a younger audience. .
It also said it would create a disinformation correspondent and a new fact-checking service, and said it would invest in RTE Player, a new audio app and “an improved and broader RTE news app. “
The report said they had moved the chain’s headquarters away from the existing site in Donnybrook, but “at this level it does not appear to be economically viable. “
Varadkar added: “I know that the news that staff will receive today from the Director-General will come as a surprise to many of them.
“The actual number of redundancies is proposed through RTE itself and the government.
“In the end, it will be up to RTE how this will be done.
“From what I understand, they intend to spread it over several years and eventual mandatory dismissals.
“But it’s a state-owned or semi-state-owned company and it’s autonomous in those kinds of decisions. “
It has delayed its decision on interim investments pending the implementation of the strategic reform plan.
RTE faces a loss of between €10m and €12m (£8. 7m to £10. 4m) this year and, with a shortfall in TV licensing profits expected to be €61m (£53m) this year and next, RTE. Bakhurst had to warn that the organization would run out of money if more public investment was not available.
RTE went into crisis in June when the broadcaster revealed that it had failed to properly declare royalties to its highest-paid worker at the time, Ryan Tubridy.
The scandal widened as a number of other monetary and governance issues emerged.
Earlier this year, before any controversies erupted, RTE submitted a request for €34. 5 million (£30 million) in additional interim funding.
The government has already allocated £16 million (£13. 9 million) in additional investments for this year, in line with recommendations from the state’s monetary advisory body, NewERA.
However, since the initial request for additional funding, RTE’s revenues have been hit hard: the broadcaster has suffered losses of millions of euros due to the cut in TV licensing fees following the controversies.
Today we catch a glimpse of the shark, or we catch a glimpse of it, and that’s that kind of feeling. There’s a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety.
Emma O’Kelly, RTE correspondent
NewERA had an extra €40m (£34. 8m) to plug the TV license hole next year.
It also asked RTE to generate €21 million (£18. 2 million) in efficiencies to close the hole created by the €61 million (£53 million) shortfall. Royalty income.
The €56 million agreed through the Cabinet covers the €40 million deficit for 2024 and the additional investment required through the issuer this year.
RTE schools correspondent Emma O’Kelly, who is also chair of the NUJ broadcasting arm in Dublin, spoke about RTE’s proposed cuts to the shark in Jaws.
“Before that, we had a silence around RTE, but it was a bit like silence at Jaws, where you know the shark is under the boat,” he said, speaking to the media ahead of a union meeting with Mr Jaws. Bakhurst at RTE’s Dublin campus.
“Today we got a glimpse of the shark, or we caught a glimpse of it, and that’s kind of a feeling.
“There’s a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety.
There are big concerns, people don’t know what the future holds. That’s how we feel our long term, that’s how it’s been
Emma O’Kelly, RTE correspondent
“Last week I talked to other people in a branch who were involved and they were saying, ‘Is our branch going to be privatized?Will this be our end?'”
“There are big concerns, people don’t know what the future holds. “
Ms O’Kelly said she wasn’t surprised by the way the main points were leaked.
“That’s how we see our future, that’s how it’s been,” he said.
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