RTE Requires €65m Bailout In 2028, Broadcaster Says
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The leading managers in RTE seem to be never out of committees at the Oireachtas. And Kevin Backhurst and his colleagues were in again today in front of the Public Accounts Committee. Louise Byrne, political correspondent with the Irish Examiner. What happened when they did go there, please?
Yeah, thankfully they're not in those committees as they're not as testy as they used to be. But that committee at the Public Accounts Committee today was touchy enough at times.
What was the Public Accounts Committee hearing about RTE today?
And what the Public Accounts Committee were looking to speak to Kevin Backers, to Director General and some other senior managers in RTE about was was their future financing of the national broadcaster ahead of them coming under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General. And I think the big question, Matt, that was left really unanswered was what happens to RTE's finances once... this ring-fenced multi-annual deal that was put in place by then media minister Catherine Martin in the summer of 2024 runs out. So under that agreement RTE is guaranteed €725 million between 2025 and 2027 and essentially what happens through that is They are given a set amount of funding every year. So for this year, for example, it's 225 million euro and a certain amount of that comes from the licence fee with the government topping it up.
So the top up this year. is in the region, they think, of just under €55 million. And members of the PAC were asking Kevin Backers what happens when this deal runs out in 2027. What Kevin Backers was saying is that he would strongly call for and strongly appeal for the government to put that arrangement back in place. However, media minister Patrick O'Donovan told me in January that under no circumstances was that going to happen. So I think there's a lot of unanswered questions about what the future financing of the national broadcaster is going to become next year.
RT is making a lot of the fact that it is breaking even, as it puts it at present. But is that a realistic way of looking at it when it requires over a million euro a week in a subsidy and possibly even more in the years to come?
You would argue no. And the point was made by Kevin Backhurst today that when their 2025 accounts are published, that it will record a surplus and that it recorded a surplus in their 2024 accounts as well. However, he conceded during the committee, quite a lengthy committee, but he said that RTE will need public support. funding, whether that is through the licence fee in its current form, whether that is through a reformed licence fee, some other kind of household charge or a broadcasting fee. But unless RTE is going to narrow its remit, it needs substantial levels of funding. And he said that RTE doesn't want to narrow its remit. And like I said, they are appealing for that arrangement to be extended out past 2027.
He conceded at one point that come 2028 they could need up to 65 million euro in funding from the government so they say they're breaking even but they're also highly highly reliant on state funding
Yeah, I see the Independent has reported in the last few minutes that the media minister, Patrick O'Donovan, is under close medical observation in a Belgian hospital after becoming unwell. No further details have been disclosed and apparently the family wants to keep the issue, whatever it is, private. So we wish him well, hope that he can recover from whatever it is. Let's bring in Albert Dolan, Fianna Fáil TD. A couple of things there that Louise mentioned, and what is the political position on this? Because Kevin Barkhurst is saying that they don't want to narrow the remit of RTE, but yet there are many people who say they're extending it at present with things like moving into podcasts as they extend their audio division.
What size do you think RTE should be? And does that require the state to continue providing services subsidies on top of the license fee revenue and on top of its commercial income?
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