Cash-strapped RTÉ paid €475k in severance to former board member despite State bailout

Last June at a meeting of the Oireachtas Media Committee, Terence O’Rourke (right), chair of the RTÉ board, confirmed that the national broadcaster was negotiating an exit payment of up to €400,000 for one individual. RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst (left) earned a basic salary of €250,000 last year, with pension allocations and allowances brining his total remuneration to €339,954. File photo: SAM BOAL/Collins Photos

A severance payment worth almost half a million euro was paid to one former member of the RTÉ executive board last year, despite the Government having to intervene in June 2024 to promise ring-fenced funding to the cash-strapped broadcaster over three years.

The broadcaster has also warned that it might not be able to meet its target of 400 voluntary redundancies over the next four years.