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Government announces €50 million in extra funding for RTÉ over five years

RTÉ is set to receive €50 million in additional funding over the next five years. The Governme...
Stephen McNeice
Stephen McNeice

13.47 10 Dec 2019


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Government announces €50 milli...

Government announces €50 million in extra funding for RTÉ over five years

Stephen McNeice
Stephen McNeice

13.47 10 Dec 2019


Share this article


RTÉ is set to receive €50 million in additional funding over the next five years.

The Government has today also announced a commission on the future of public service broadcasting.

Management at the state broadcaster had requested extra funding in the region of €100 million to deal with its financial situation.

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They will now get about half that over the next five years.

It comes after the semi-state broadcaster announced its cost-cutting strategy last month to address its financial difficulties.

RTÉ announced a series of measures aimed at reducing costs by €60 million over three years - including cutting around 200 jobs in 2020, moving production of Lyric FM from Cork to Dublin, the closure of its digital radio stations.

Today, Communications Minister Richard Bruton said an extra €10 million funding will be committed to broadcasting this year - and he confirmed that amount will be recurring over the coming years.

Announcing the extra funding, Minister Bruton said RTÉ has to make changes itself.

However, he denied the extra funding was the Government caving into the broadcaster's demands

He said: "What happened here was that RTÉ made a submission to my department in which they have made a request for significant public funding, as well as their restructuring.

"What we have done is meet them halfway... they made an application for significantly more money”

Meanwhile, the Government also announced it is setting up a commission into the future of Irish public service broadcasting.

The commission will recommend a "strategic direction for public service broadcasting provided at national, regional and local level in light of international experience and future trends".

It will be asked to bring forward proposals by September 2020, ahead of the next Budget.

Minister Bruton said the aim of commission will be "how best to deliver and fund public service broadcasting into the future".

Today's announcement comes ahead of RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes' appearance before the Oireachtas Communications Committee.

Reporting by Sean Defoe and Stephen McNeice
Main image: Communications Minister Richard Bruton. Image: Sean Defoe

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