RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcaster, is primed to relocate the production avenues for The Late Late Show and Fair City away from its Dublin-based Donnybrook centre. This move, shared by the director general, Kevin Bakhurst, with the personnel on Tuesday, is part of the strategic renaissance aimed at revitalising the broadcast service following a severe administrative crisis.
“The programmes will possibly be created off-site by the private sector in the long run,” said an informant aware of Bakhurst’s proposal. RTÉ has proclaimed a transition to a “scaled-down site” on Tuesday, demonstrating an inclination to reduce Dublin-based creativity and increase production outside the capital city.
The broadcaster announced it would continue with the reported closure of four digital radio channels and a job cut of 40, as part of its plan this year. The affected digital radio channels include RTÉ Radio 1 Extra, RTÉ 2XM, RTÉ Pulse and RTÉjr radio. These job cuts herald the first stage, with the objective of reducing a total of 400 jobs in the future via voluntary redundancy.
Accomplishing their strategic goals such as boosting expenditure in independent productions depends heavily on securing an agreement with the Government for future funding of public service broadcasting, as mentioned in their new strategy report.
Difference of opinion prevails among coalition members, Catherine Martin, Minister for Media, is rooting for direct Exchequer funding for RTÉ while her counterparts Micheál Martin, Tánaiste and Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Public Expenditure, are against this option. This opposition was also maintained by the ex-finance minister, Micheal McGrath.
The Government has settled on releasing an initial amount of €20 million as provisional funding to RTÉ, as Mr Martin disclosed earlier. This has been precipitated by acceptance from RÉ’s board and higher management of a set of transformation plans, aimed at avoiding any recurrence of the exposed scandals related to Ryan Tubridy’s overcompensation.
In lieu of a drastic reduction in licence fee payments, €40 million has been approved, in principle, to be paid in halves, the agreement having been achieved last November. Ms Martin conveyed that her department will be releasing the first tranche with the succeeding one due later in the year, while briefing the Cabinet members about two reform action plans on Tuesday morning.
In an attempt to reclaim the confidence that was significantly dented in the last year, Ms Martin asserted that intensifying enhancements of governance and organisational frameworks remain vital for RTÉ. She lavished praise on the ongoing efforts of RTÉ, and was particularly buoyed by the pledge made by the chairperson and director-general to persist with their improvement strategy.
The broadcaster has consented to establish formal procedures and governance, and all board representatives have vowed to equip themselves with requisite facts from the executive. Plans are afoot to pave the way for RTÉ staff to elevate their careers as presenters via effectual workforce involvement.
One integral reform will be to assign the Comptroller and Auditor General as RTÉ’s auditor. Ms Martin expressed optimism that such changes would morph the broadcaster into an institution that is transparent and fair, both as an employer and an organisation.
All employees of RTÉ were convened by Mr Bakhurst at a communal gathering on a Tuesday afternoon to lay out the broadcaster’s course of action. Attendees could join the session physically or virtually. In a statement issued on the same day, the broadcaster elucidated its “five-year strategy, which has been conceived by building upon the 10-point strategic vision we published last November and inputs received from RTÉ employees, the audience, and other parties in subsequent weeks. The strategy will be made public later this day, once the Cabinet has been apprised of it.”
In the previous November, an initial draft of the RTÉ strategy was released, proposing initiatives in ten key areas such as financial governance, public service, and production. The strategy, upon internal consultation, suggested job cuts of around 20% at the broadcaster, equivalent to a reduction by about 400 employees. Additionally, it proposed a 50% bump in independent production expenditure and an emphasis on increased regional production, particularly in Cork, Galway, and Limerick.
Troubles first started brewing at the broadcaster following revelations that Ryan Tubridy, its highest-paid presenter back then, received remuneration higher than what RTÉ officially acknowledged.
Information has emerged that led to tough public appearances by board members and top management in front of Oireachtas committees; this has also brought about the exit of several persons from these positions. The notable mention here is Siún Ní Raghallaigh, the board’s chair at the time, who decided to leave in light of comments made by Ms. Martin. Martin’s comments were taken by Ní Raghallaigh as clear indications of a lack of faith in her leadership.
A key proposition in governance reforms, as it is understood, would be placing more weight on transparency regarding pay within the organisation. There are suggestions that the company may disclose the salaries of its highest-earning managers and leading broadcasters. There has been quite a bit of controversy surrounding the hefty financial package senior executives received upon leaving, especially in the last year. Breda O’Keeffe, Richard Collins, and Rory Coveney, all former chief financial officers, are known to have been paid six-figure severance sums upon exiting their roles.
New rules have been implemented on commercial work conducted by staff outside the broadcasting firm. This is thought to have contributed to the exit of several well-known presenters, particularly from 2FM. In the past few weeks, it was publicly announced that Jennifer Zamparelli and the 2 Johnnies were exiting the station, and on Monday, using social media, Donncha O’Callaghan revealed he would be leaving his presenter role on the breakfast show as of July 5th.