Taxpayers will continue to fund RTÉ through a mixture of the €160 licence fee and direct annual Exchequer grants, with a crackdown on evasion and non-payment of the licence fee planned.
An Post, which collects the licence fee for RTÉ, is to be given €6 million to improve its collection procedures and crack down on evasion. There has been a significant fall-off in licence fee payment since the RTÉ scandals last year, resulting in an estimated drop in income for the broadcaster of some €20 million last year.
In a deal approved by the Cabinet this morning, the Government will guarantee RTE’s public funding – the combination of Exchequer grants and licence fee income – for the next three years. If licence fee income continues to drop, the Exchequer will pay more.
However, the level of overall State funding is significantly below what RTÉ sought – some €55 million below what RTÉ had said it needed for the next three years. For next year, RTÉ will get €225 million between the licence fee and the Exchequer funding – but this is €30 million below what the station sought.
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In a statement, Minister for Media Catherine Martin hailed the decisions.
“Certainty of funding, and the ability to plan on a multiannual basis for delivery of agreed strategies is key,” she said.
“What we have now agreed provides that certainty and security, which for RTÉ was never possible when relying solely on TV licence receipts for its public funding.
“For next year total public funding for RTÉ will be €225m through a combination of TV licence receipts and Exchequer support. This increased funding envelope will meet the needs of RTÉ's new strategy.”
At a press conference in Government Buildings this afternoon, Ms Martin said that the increase in direct Exchequer funding from her department to RTÉ would be €2 million, up to €40 million. The rest of RTE’s funding will come from the licence fee and the State subvention for licences for pensioners.
While insisting that she had secured “multiannual funding” for the first time, Ms Martin accepted that the Exchequer element in RTE’s budget it was a budgetary matter and that a future Government could change the model. However she said that she “couldn’t imagine” a future Government doing so.
She said that funding for 2025 was now “outside the budgetary process” for this year but acknowledged that there would be another process next year.
This will mean it is in competition with other spending demands, both within the Department of Arts and Media and from the rest of Government.
Ms Martin, who has publicly sought to have the licence fee abolished and RTÉ to be funded completely by the State, defended the compromise reached today, saying that “we all have different opinions, it’s a Coalition Government”.
But it was noticeable that Ms Martin was not accompanied by any of the other members of Government.
Ms Martin also said she had spoken to the director general of RTÉ and the chairman of the board and they were now confident they could achieve the necessary reforms at the station.
Staff at RTÉ are “dismayed and disappointed” that the Government has opted to continue with the TV licence system as the main source of funding for public service media, according to RTÉ's Trade Union Group.
Although welcoming the multiannual funding outlined, it said the decision to maintain the “outdated and inequitable” TV licence fee was “politically cowardly”, one which will not bring certainty to the broadcaster or its staff.
The group noted that both the Government-commissioned Future of Media Commission report and last month’s Oireachtas Media Committee report examined international best practice, and both recommended that the TV licence system be abandoned.
Speaking on behalf of the Trade Union Group, co-chair Emma O’Kelly said the Government has “inexplicably chosen to ignore the recommendations”.
“The Government had the opportunity to listen to this expert advice and opt for a model that would be equitable and progressive for the Irish public but instead it has shown political cowardice and effectively opted to maintain the status quo,” she said.
O’Kelly said the decision to provide An Post with an additional €6 million over a three period to reform the collection system “is admitting the licence system is already broken” while technical group to examine the licensing system adds “insult to injury”.
The National Union of Journalists, meanwhile, expressed “grave disappointment” at the Government’s decision to retain the TV licence system.
Séamus Dooley, NUJ Irish Secretary, acknowledged the principle of multiannual funding but said its value was “negated” by the retention of the licence system.
“The current financial crisis in RTÉ is to a great extent the product of political cowardice on the part of successive Governments in failing to reform the licence system. It is an outmoded system which has not been properly resourced,” he said.
Dooley said there is “a supreme irony in the fact that having ignored a series of expert reports, the Government is to establish an expert, technical group to review the funding model”.
RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said the broadcaster welcomed the Government’s announcement.
Mr Bakhurst said in a statement it “recognises the importance and value of strong and independent public service media to Ireland”.
“It also means we can continue the necessary transformation of RTÉ and the restoration of trust while also delivering important and engaging public service programming and content across our television, radio and online services, in English and in Irish.”
“Our five-year strategy, which was necessary even before the issues of the past year or more emerged, is about creating a trusted organisation that delivers for Irish audiences ... It is a plan based on the core values of public service.”
Virgin Media Television said it was “extremely disappointing” the Government had not recognised its public service remit. It said the funding announcement would “further distort the market”.
“RTÉ will now be in a more dominant position than ever before where it will receive a guaranteed €725 million from the taxpayer over the next three years while continuing to benefit from the largest share of commercial revenue. In short, it is a reward for inefficiency and all-round bad practice,” it said.
Ann Marie Lenihan, the chief executive of NewsBrands Ireland, of which The Irish Times is a member, said: “At a time when news publishers are investing heavily in new online business models, the growing online offerings of the public service broadcaster are distorting the digital advertising market. It is crucial to ensure that any public funding of RTÉ is not used to further distort the market,” she said.
Ms Lenihan said the State broadcaster did not have to turn a profit on its website. “Indeed, it can avail of publicly-funded content and use it for commercial gain. News publishers on the other hand must invest millions in content generation in order to maximise commercial opportunity without any public funding from the taxpayer,” she said.
Earlier, Tánaiste Micheál Martin appeared to place the question of future RTÉ funding squarely as part of the annual estimates process.
“Obviously, there are continuing challenges in terms of public expenditure and the decision [on RTÉ] will reflect that in terms of, even in better times there are always challenges and competing interests in terms of where the spending of public funds so the estimates will be challenging in that respect as ministers prepare for their bilateral over the coming weeks in respect of their estimates for 2025,” he said before the Cabinet meeting.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said that the deal provides “almost unprecedented” certainty for a public sector organisation about its future funding, according to Taoiseach Simon Harris.
It is understood the broadcaster sought €255 million in State funding for next year; €260 million for 2026 and €265 million for 2027, a total of €780 million. The agreed package will be less than that.
Licence fee revenues have fallen in the wake of a series of controversies engulfing RTÉ since last summer.
Mr Harris said the “saga” at RTÉ has been “a time of great worry for staff at RTÉ, a time of great concern about the future of RTÉ.”
Mr Harris said there will be a “multiannual certainty” that “most State agencies, public service organisations, departments would give their right arm for.”
He also said that there were a number of principles that he felt “needed to be adhered to in this process.
“I felt that we couldn’t ask the taxpayer to put their hand in their pocket and pay any more in terms of an increased fee.”
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