RTÉ saves €2.2m thanks to hiring freeze and cost cutting

Mon, 22 Jul, 2024 - 01:00

Tadgh McNally, Political Reporter

RTÉ has saved a total of €2.2m since introducing cost-saving measures last August, including a hiring freeze and cuts to personnel costs.

New documents provided to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) show a total saving of €5.9m due to a reduction in personnel costs at the national broadcaster.

However, these savings were offset by a charge of €7.1m from the Department of Social Protection Scope investigation into bogus self-employment at the national broadcaster.

The figures come just days ahead of a new funding model for RTÉ is to be formally announced, with the TV licence set to be retained alongside multi-annual funding for the broadcaster.

The plan would make RTÉ unique among State bodies, and the deal will be viewed as a compromise, with the multi-annual funding likely to be seen as a win for Media Minister Catherine Martin.

Last week, Taoiseach Simon Harris said that he wanted a final decision made on RTÉ funding at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, and that the “saga” had gone on too long.

Savings were also made at RTÉ on its energy costs, citing the reduction in wholesale energy costs and the ending of transmitting Radio 1 on long-wave radio last April.

A letter, dated June 28, 2024, from RTÉ board chair Terence O’Rourke to PAC chair Brian Stanley details that this saving was €3.4m.

“As part of the cost saving initiatives, announced in August, strategic and digital projects were cancelled to make savings. RTÉ saved €2.2m because of these initiatives,” Mr O’Rourke wrote.

The letter also confirms that RTÉ’s cash and cash-equivalents balance at the end of last year was €78.6m, with this being a year-on-year decline of €35.4m.

Mr O’Rourke also thanked the Committee for their work over the last year, saying that their recommendations have helped RTÉ improve its governance structures.

“Your recommendations have contributed to the wider evaluation as to how governance standards at the organisation can be improved,” Mr O’Rourke wrote.

Both the Board, and the Director General and his leadership team, remain fully committed to continuing to ensuring that the organisation is run to the standards which are commensurate with the trust that the public places with us.

A spokesperson for RTÉ confirmed that the broadcaster does have enough in funding to continue it’s operations over the next 12 months, citing both the cost-saving measures and interim government funding.

"Cost-saving measures implemented by RTÉ, combined with the recent receipt of €20m in interim funding from government have ensured that RTÉ has sufficient cash to fund its operations over the next 12 months,” the spokesperson said.

It comes months after the PAC completed its report on RTÉ, which recommended a number of key changes, including bringing the national broadcaster under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

In a further letter, dated 21 June, Mr O’Rourke outlines that the broadcaster has accepted 14 of the 21 recommendations set out by the PAC.

Among the recommendations the RTÉ board has not fully agreed to is that future exit agreements do not contain confidentiality clauses, with Mr O’Rourke saying that the broadcaster must “also be conscious” of the roles of bodies like the Workplace Relations Commission.

RTÉ last month published its five-year plan, which details the reduction of its overall workforce by 400, moving production of two flagship programmes off-site and a new facility in Cork.