Significant work remains in reforming RTÉ, cttee to hear

RTÉ's Director General Kevin Bakhurst will tell an Oireachtas committee this afternoon that "significant work remains" in terms of reform of the broadcaster.

RTÉ is appearing before the Media Committee following the Government's decision to withhold funding from it.

Media Minister Patrick O'Donovan confirmed that the broadcaster is to receive less funding than envisaged in Budget 2027 due to his dissatisfaction with what he called the broadcaster's progress in implementing promised reforms last month.

This afternoon, Mr Bakhurst will acknowledge that Government's multi-annual funding for the broadcaster came with a "responsibility on RTÉ to deliver".

He will say in his opening statement that "public funding carries an obligation to continue to demonstrate value, accountability and delivery".

He will say the multi-annual funding provided "essential stability" to the broadcaster, adding this stability was used to strengthen governance and financial discipline.

The "work of transformation is far from over", the Director General will tell TDs.

He will point towards "tangible signs of progress, including in the services and content we provide to audiences all over Ireland" two years into its 'New Direction' strategy.

He will say that RTÉ is committed to "ambitious change in how we serve audiences and how we run the organisation".

He will say he is committed to building a "strong modern RTÉ that will play its role in Irish life, that Ireland can be proud of, and that delivers better outcomes for the public we serve".

"Ultimately, the test of this investment is not simply the financial position of RTÉ. It is whether we provide better services, stronger Irish content and journalism, greater accessibility and choice for audiences, and whether we do so efficiently, transparently and accountably," he will say.

However, Feargal Ó Coigligh, Secretary General of the Department of Communications, Culture and Sport's will say that RTÉ has not kept pace with its own timelines, adding it was anticipated that the implementation of the strategy "would be complete by now".

He will say the question of the overall public funding package for RTÉ for next year will be a matter for the Government to further consider.

He will say that the pace of reform at RTÉ was part of Minister O'Donovan's decision to withhold funding from the broadcaster.

Mr Ó Coigligh will say the Government's three-year funding arrangement for RTÉ came in "the wake of revelations of failures in governance and internal control, a significant decline in revenue from the sale of TV licences, and the recommendations of the two independent expert advisory committees".

He will say the Government's funding decision took account of RTÉ's commitments to reform.

Mr Ó Coigligh will point towards competing demands for funding across the department.

He will say the full €260 million committed to RTÉ "would have required an additional €31m in Exchequer funding".

This would comprise of "an increase of €20m over 2026 funding baseline and an additional €11m to compensate for the projected fall in TV licence revenue".

Mr Ó Coigligh will say there will be continued engagement with RTÉ over the coming weeks.

He will say he expects governance reforms at the organisation to be completed by the end of the year.

Speaking ahead of the committee, its chairman Labour TD Alan Kelly said public confidence and public funding cannot be taken for granted.

He said the funding agreement came with clear responsibilities.

"The public are entitled to expect that those commitments will be delivered, and delivered within the timelines RTÉ itself set out," he said.

"We need to see clear evidence of what has changed, what remains outstanding, and when the outstanding reforms will be completed and how these reforms are being embedded in the day-to-day operation of RTÉ," he added.

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