RTÉ undercuts media regulator’s role

In all the chatter about wardrobe budgets and tracksuit tops triggered by RTÉ’s appearance before an Oireachtas committee last week, one core issue has not been given much of an airing.

It was expected that the national broadcaster’s funding levels would be a big theme in the discussion last Wednesday. That didn’t really happen though.

Frankly, it probably suited the Government for discussion of RTÉ’s funding adequacy to be out of the headlines after the budget day shambles arising from the clash between Patrick O’Donovan and Jack Chambers.

The issue was not entirely ignored. It was raised by several committee members from either side of the house, including Fine Gael TD Micheál Carrigy. Once the current multiyear funding agreement in place between the Government and RTÉ comes to an end next year, he noted the broadcaster will “be coming looking for money in 2029 and 2030″. How much, he wondered?

“Our five-year plan, which we have shared with the department, looks for only the level we are at now plus consumer price index [CPI] inflation,” Kevin Bakhurst said in response. That means the €260 million received in 2026 under the existing agreement, he clarified, plus a percentage increase in line with the CPI.

In itself, that is not surprising. It does, however, ignore a couple of crucial facts. Firstly, after the budget fiasco, the broadcaster is not slated to receive €260 million next year. Its funding has been frozen at €240 million, despite the uplift to €260 million having been guaranteed in the multiyear agreement it reached with the previous coalition.

Second, and most importantly, the €260 million plus inflation estimate – about €268.8 million, assuming annual CPI inflation of 3.4 per cent – ignores the recommendations of Coimisiún na Meán. The media regulator has, in one or possibly two reports furnished to O’Donovan last year, argued that RTÉ really needs €275 million in 2027.

Coimisiún na Meán is statutorily obliged to give the Minister its take on the adequacy of funding for public service broadcasting. But, like much of the budget advice it receives from State agencies and watchdogs these days, the Government can apparently just ignore it, as it did in the budget last month.

[ Regulator last year recommended that Government should give RTÉ additional €35m in 2027Opens in new window ]

For Bakhurst to also ignore the recommendations, however, completely undercuts the regulator and its role as outlined in the Government’s own Broadcasting Amendment Bill. It also suggests a worrying aversion within Montrose to discussing frankly what RTÉ requires to keep its head above water.