A year into his job as RTÉ director general, Kevin Bakhurst says he “couldn’t help but be really pleased” with its new €725 million, three-year public funding deal, and he does not regret the Government’s decision to retain the €160 television licence fee as part of it.
The licence fee would be “extremely difficult” to collect if there was no jeopardy involved in not paying, the RTÉ boss says when asked if people should be prosecuted for evasion.
“Look, that’s the legislation at the moment. It is the law,” he says. “If there’s no jeopardy in not paying your licence fee it becomes extremely difficult to collect it, and it’s very unfair on the people who do pay it as well.”
Minister for Media Catherine Martin has signalled a clampdown on evaders, while An Post has been awarded €6 million to update its archaic database, which Bakhurst hopes will give it a “fighting chance”. Is €6 million enough?
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“Look, [An Post chief executive] David McRedmond, he’s a very savvy man and I’m sure he’ll be asking for what he needs to make this as effective as possible.”
In any case RTÉ will now be insulated from the risk of further decline in licence fee receipts, at least for the next three years, given it has been awarded fixed public funding of €225 million in 2025, €240 million in 2026 and €260 million in 2027.
Bakhurst believes this shift towards greater Exchequer funding is “a better solution” than, say, increasing the rate of the licence fee, which has not changed since 2008. “To get the multiannual settlement was really important to us.”
He denies that the deal “further distorts” the Irish media, as claimed by rival Virgin Media Television.
Virgin also described the agreement as “a reward for inefficiency and all-round bad practice”.
“I saw that and I don’t agree with it. I mean, if anything it is a reward for dealing with bad practices and coming out of it the other side and putting in a framework that can be trusted,” said Bakhurst.
RTÉ sought what would have been an “ideal” five-year agreement to match the length of the strategy document Bakhurst was required to produce.
Although it requested €255 million in 2025 with subsequent increases in line with the Consumer Price Index, RTÉ will not now have make cuts over-and-above those already flagged.
Instead, Bakhurst hints that the lower €225 million sum could affect the timescale for planned investments in technology upgrades. It still intends to prioritise ones that “make an immediate difference” to audiences.
“We are investing in Player this year and we have also been investing in the audio app and the news app, but we need more money in the years to come.”
RTÉ received €16 million in interim funding last autumn and then half of the additional €40 million that the Government agreed to give it for 2024. The remaining €20 million has not yet been received, he says.
“We have to have those discussions with the Government. It depends on licence fee sales and other factors.”
It is also “waiting for approval” to launch a voluntary redundancy scheme. About 40 departures are initially expected as part of his plan to shrink its workforce by 400, or a fifth, by the end of 2028.
Fallout from RTÉ's corporate governance scandals lingers, with a potential exit package of €400,000 under consideration for an unnamed individual. This case is still going through the Workplace Relations Commission, limiting further comment.
There has been no further communication with departed presenter Ryan Tubridy and he has not repaid the €150,000 he received through RTÉ's undisclosed side agreement. “It would be great if he does,” says Bakhurst.
Notwithstanding the RTÉ 2FM presenter exodus, it remains “not for sale”, he insists, and the head of the station, Dan Healy, “has actually genuinely got some very exciting plans” for it. The digital radio stations earmarked for closure will shut down at the end of August with the exception of RTÉjr, which will continue to operate for a further few months for regulatory reasons.
Meanwhile, RTÉ will be exploring “the best model” for making Fair City and The Late Late Show off-site, which Bakhurst says it must do to avoid costly facility revamps.
“I know some [independent production companies] are interested in particular in Fair City. A few of them have already said it to me,” he says, adding that RTÉ will not do anything that jeopardises “two of our most important programmes”.
He has been in situ for one year – “just over a year, yeah, not that I’m counting” – but is RTÉ where he wants it to be?
“No, because we need to make changes,” he says.
“We have real ambition for programming, we have real ambition for RTÉ's role, and we have real ambition for delivering for audiences, and maybe when we deliver that I’ll be happy with where RTÉ is.”
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