RTÉ staff fear pay cut as extra €30m needs to be saved

FEARS of further pay cuts and possible redundancies at RTÉ have risen after station bosses revealed yesterday that they need to achieve additional savings of almost €30 million this year.

The need for more cutbacks — estimated at about 7% of RTÉ’s overall budget — was highlighted by RTÉ management at a meeting with staff, although they stopped short of outlining how they would be achieved.

RTÉ insiders claim recent Government measures including an order to pass on €10m of licence fee revenue to TG4 and the obligation to establish Digital Terrestrial Television will add €15m to the station’s costs in 2011.