The Irish Government has decided that RTÉ will receive €240 million in public funding in 2027 instead of the €260 million previously promised.
That statement raises two important questions:
Is the Government justified in holding back the extra €20 million? And has RTÉ delivered the reforms it promised in return for such substantial public funding?
RTÉ Director General Mr Kevin Bakhurst strongly disagrees with the Government’s decision. He says RTÉ planned its future on the basis of a three-year Government funding commitment and that changing the figure at this late stage will affect its five-year strategy.
And he has a point. But taxpayers are also entitled to look at what RTÉ promised to deliver in return.
What happened to the promised staff reductions?
One of RTÉ’s major reform commitments was to become a smaller and more efficient organisation. RTÉ’s strategy proposed reducing its workforce by up to 400 positions, roughly 20% of its workforce, over the five-year transformation programme.
Its 2025 Voluntary Exit Programme was therefore an important first test.
RTÉ received 325 applications from staff wishing to leave, and RTÉ itself said its target for 2025 was “over 100” exits under the voluntary scheme.
What actually happened? Only 67 employees left through the Voluntary Exit Programme in 2025.
RTÉ also abolished or “suppressed” another 30 posts, giving a headline figure of 97 positions removed.
But there is an important distinction. Sixty seven people actually left through the redundancy programme. The additional 30 were posts removed following other departures or organisational changes.
Therefore, against RTÉ’s own stated target of more than 100 voluntary exits in 2025, only 67 were achieved. That means the actual redundancy programme delivered roughly two-thirds of its first-year target. And RTÉ still has a very considerable distance to travel if it is to achieve its overall ambition of reducing staff numbers by up to 400.
RTÉ’s own internal review subsequently acknowledged that the voluntary exit scheme failed to produce departures on the scale required. It found that the criteria were restrictive, the application period was too short and that, if the experience were repeated, RTÉ might have to make around 500 offers to achieve 300 exits. That surely strengthens the Government’s argument that the promised transformation has not progressed as quickly as expected.
What about RTÉ’s €22.5 million surplus?
RTÉ reported a €22.5 million surplus for 2025. At first glance that produces an obvious question: Why does an organisation reporting a €22.5m surplus need another €20m from Government? The answer is more complicated.
RTÉ says some planned expenditure was postponed into 2026 and that part of the surplus arose from accounting adjustments rather than cash sitting unused.
It also says €9.6 million resulted from the release of accounting provisions and accruals, so that portion should not simply be regarded as spare cash.
Nevertheless, taxpayers are entitled to ask:
- Exactly which projects were postponed?
- How much did each project cost?
- How much of the €22.5m surplus represented genuine underspending?
- And why isn’t that information presented in a simple, easily understood breakdown?
RTÉ receives much more than €240 million overall.
There is another important point often overlooked in this debate. RTÉ does not operate on €240 million alone. In 2025 its total revenue was approximately €383.4 million. That included licence-fee income, additional Government funding and substantial commercial income from advertising and other activities.
So the €240m being discussed is RTÉ’s public-funding allocation, is not the broadcaster’s entire annual income.
RTÉ operates television channels, radio stations, news services, RTÉ Player, digital services, regional reporting, Irish-language broadcasting, sport, drama, entertainment, documentaries and cultural programming.
Nobody seriously suggests all of this can be provided for nothing. But when hundreds of millions of euro of public money are involved, the public is entitled to know exactly what it is buying.
Where is all the money going?
There should be a straightforward annual statement telling taxpayers:
- How much goes on staff?
- How much goes on management?
- How much goes on television and radio programmes?
- How much goes on sports rights?
- How much goes to independent producers?
- How much goes on buildings and property?
- How much goes on technology?
- How much has actually been saved?
- And crucially, How many of the promised redundancies and staff reductions have actually happened?
The Government certainly has questions to answer.
It publicly committed itself to predictable multi-year funding and RTÉ understandably made plans on that basis, but RTÉ also made commitments. It promised a smaller, more agile organisation and proposed reducing staffing by up to 400 positions.
In the first major voluntary redundancy programme, RTÉ sought more than 100 exits. Despite receiving 325 applications, only 67 people ultimately departed under that scheme. That cannot reasonably be described as the level of progress originally envisaged. Public funding should come with public accountability. So perhaps the real question is not simply whether RTÉ should receive €240m or €260m.
It is this:
Before another €20 million of taxpayers’ money is handed over, shouldn’t RTÉ be required to show clearly how the money already provided has been spent, why its redundancy programme fell short of its own target, how it intends to achieve the promised reduction of up to 400 positions and exactly what measurable reforms the public/taxpayer is getting in return?
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