A voluntary exit programme in RTÉ failed to deliver the scale of departures needed by the broadcaster to meet plans for staff cuts.
An internal analysis said substantial work had been put into preparing early exit packages for staff but only a relatively small number eventually received offers.
It said there were problems with how the Voluntary Exit Programme (VEP) was run, including a narrow window to apply that placed too much strain on people considering whether to leave.
The analysis also said the criteria for the voluntary exit programme were “restrictive.”
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It said redundancies could only be considered where a staff departure involved “100 per cent direct suppression” of their post or “100 per cent equivalent cost savings.”
All other applications that did not meet these criteria were excluded, according to records released under Freedom of Information.
The analysis explained: “The narrow window to run the VEP programme and secure exits by 31 December 2025 placed a strain on the process and on individuals in making the decision to accept, or not.”
“The later opening of the scheme, April 2025, with closing date for applications on 26 May 2025, did not allow sufficient time to significantly evolve our operating model behind the exits.”
It said running the numbers for 134 early exit applicants involved “significant” effort and cost for the HR and finance departments of RTÉ. That resulted in “forty-plus” offers being made to staff.
The analysis said: “With just a 60 per cent acceptance rate, this compounds the effort / cost challenge with the 2025 terms.”
It said overall the scheme had strong governance and consistency which helped ensure fairness and standardisation across RTÉ.
“Uniform business cases and centralised data helped reduce complexity and made it easier to verify compliance with Department approval,” the document added.
However, it warned the low take-up rate could have implications for future redundancy programmes within the organisation.
“If the 2025 experience was to be replicated, we would need to make around 500 offers to achieve 300 exits,” it said.
RTÉ employed 1,801 full and part-time staff at the end of 2025, according to its annual report, which also notes the redundancy programme cost about €8.5 million.
An RTÉ spokesman said its five-year strategy stated that the broadcaster plans to reduce its headcount by up to 400 in the period up to 2029.
“RTÉ delivered 97 exits in 2025, 67 VEP exits and 30 additional role suppressions, with savings of €8.5 million per year from this year onwards,” he added.
The spokesman said that each voluntary exit programme required Government approval and that a business case was submitted to the Department for the next scheme.
“We hope to open [it] in the coming months, and for a longer period than the 2025 VEP,” he explained.”
“RTÉ remains confident it can achieve the proposed number of up to 400 exits from the organisation across the five years of the strategy.”
