RTÉ facing a €50m deficit for this year

RTÉ is facing an “unconscionable” €50m deficit for this year, may be forced to push through more cost cuts, and should turn to digital media as an alternative to the costly London bureau.

Pat Rabbitte, the communications minister, revealed the “acute financial crisis” at the state broadcaster during a tense Dáil debate on the issue yesterday.

He said Montrose needed to cut its cloth to Ireland’s new economic circumstances. “By the end of 2012, the deficit at RTÉ will have reached €50m, an unconscionable sum, of which the great preponderance is in the redundancy programme.