Government cut RTÉ funding by €20 million in Budget 2027

The government have cut funding for RTÉ by €20 million in Budget 2027. The broadcaster was set to receive €260 million next year. The government gave the reasons that there was a lack of funding in the area, as well as their belief that RTÉ were not progressing quickly enough.

In 2024, the government committed to providing public funding to RTÉ for €725 million over three years, from 2025 to 2027. They were allocated €240 million in funding for 2027, as opposed to €260 million.

Media Minister Patrick O'Donovan explained in a post-budget conference that the figure reflects "the overall funding available to my department."

He elaborated that "it is also in the context of progress made by RTÉ in the delivery of their strategy."

"While progress has been made across a number of issues, I am not happy that we have seen sufficient progress in delivering the smaller, more agile organisation that wants to be delivered under the strategy," he said.

RTÉ have been in the process of enacting large-scale reforms since 2023, following fallout from the extensively publicised payment scandals. Most notably, between 2017 and 2022, the national broadcaster paid €345,000 more than had previously been disclosed to presenter Ryan Tubridy.

"We completely reject the assertion that the pace of reform and transformation within RTÉ has been slow, said RTÉ Director-General Kevin Bakhurst in response to the Minister's claims.

"We completely reject the assertion that the pace of reform and transformation within RTÉ has been slow.

"The Leadership Team and I have delivered extensive reform since I took up the role of Director-General, including implementation of around 90% of the EAC report recommendations.

"We have also already managed to exit almost 100 people from the organisation, despite the late approval of the Voluntary Exit Programme and a short window to enable people to leave."

He went on to say that the unexpected news of the funding cuts will make it more difficult for the broadcaster to deliver on their goals for the future:

"The Government’s decision to reduce this public funding agreement by €20 million at this late stage, when we have already made important commitments to our audiences, to the independent sector, to other important stakeholders and to RTÉ staff, is one we had not anticipated and will inevitably impact on our ability to deliver our five-year strategy.

"If the three-year multi-annual agreement will no longer be honoured – we now have some important decisions to make."

The broadcaster has announced that Chair of the Board of RTÉ, Terence O'Rourke is seeking a meeting with Minister O'Donovan to discuss the multi-annual commitment that was made in 2024.