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Government Agrees Bailout Of €56m For RTÉ Over Two Years

Tom Douglas
Tom Douglas

01:31 14 Nov 2023


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The Government has agreed €56m in bailout funding for RTÉ over two years.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said today it would be subject to certain reforms.

Minister for Media, Catherine Martin, said the funding decision is "necessary" to secure the short term operations at RTÉ.

However the Minister added the long term reform of the public funding model is "critical" to make sure the broadcaster is on "a sustainable footing," into the future.

Minister Martin added, "it is critically important that people pay the TV Licence fee," until a long term plan is established.

Strategic Vision

It comes as the national broadcaster today announced it's Strategic Vision for the future.

It is expected this will include around 400 voluntary redundancies as well as a sharp reduction in the number of staff members earning over €100,000 a year.

Some services are also expected to be cut back, such as digital radio stations.

These plans are aimed at securing the financial future of the national broadcaster.

Director General Kevin Bakhurst is outlining the plans to members of the Trade Union Group of staff this afternoon.

Speaking on the way into the meeting, the chair of the NUJ Dublin Broadcasting Branch Emma O’Kelly says staff have huge concerns about what they’ve been hearing

"There's a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety," she said.

All RTE staff will be briefed about what is in the strategic reform plan later this afternoon at around 3 o'clock.

Leaks

Meanwhile, National Union of Journalists rep, Seamus Dooley, says the it’s unacceptable that staff had to find out about the details of the plan through the press.

Mr. Dooley said these details were "pre-empted" by leaks to the newspapers.

"I'm not criticising any journalist for getting the leak, but we did ask RTÉ to make the document available at an earlier stage," he said.

Follow @98FM on Twitter for the latest Dublin news


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