RTÉ plan published: Redundancy scheme to target those on over €100,000 with expanded production centre in Cork

RTÉ will cap the pay of top stars, meaning no one will earn more than director general Kevin Bakhurst

The document sets out a plan to make one in five jobs redundant, rebalance regional production and make savings across the board, but says that a move from its Montrose base is "not economically viable".

RTÉ has published its strategic reform plan, with the embattled broadcaster saying that a voluntary redundancy scheme will "particularly" target those on over €100,000.

It also caps the pay of top stars, meaning no one will earn more than director general Kevin Bakhurst.

It is understood that at a town hall meeting of staff to discuss the broadcaster's new strategic plan, Mr Bakhurst gave a commitment that will mean that top stars' pay remains capped at €250,000.

The document sets out a plan to make one in five jobs redundant, rebalance regional production and make savings across the board, but says that a move from its Montrose base is "not economically viable".

A statement from RTÉ said: "Developed to respond to the urgent need for transformation and a restoration of trust, the plan is the first step in a consultation with Government, with the audience, and with staff, the creative sector, and other stakeholders.

"The plan sets out the framework for the eventual strategic plan for 2024 – 2028, which will be provided to Government and the regulator in the new year."

The broadcaster said that TV licence income had dipped by €21m and anticipates €40m to drop off next year. It said that it has already made savings of €5m this year against its 2023 Budget and will make savings of €10m next year.

The document says that 400 jobs will be made redundant.

"This means a net reduction of approximately 400 posts. This will be achieved through a combination of normal attrition and retirements and a voluntary exit scheme open to all, and which will aim to particularly reduce the number of staff paid over €100,000."

However, it says that there is no question of relocating from Donnybrook, even though the site is valued at €100m.

"Relocating RTÉ off the current Donnybrook site: we have considered this option and at this stage it does not appear to be economically viable. Savills have commenced a high-level assessment of the site, which will take some time to conclude. They note the commercial real estate market faces several challenges at this time, and that the Donnybrook site is complex with a number of protected buildings. Their preliminary estimate is that the site has a value of approximately €100m, which is well below value achieved per acre in 2017."

Expansion in Cork

The document envisages an expanded role for Cork and Limerick, saying: "We will operate two production centres, expanding in Cork and reducing Dublin, diversifying employment and the content produced and commissioned.

"We will rebalance our production nationwide, investing in an expanded production centre in Cork, with renewed commitment to Limerick and Galway. This means significantly more content will be created or commissioned from outside of Dublin, where we will have a smaller RTÉ in both headcount and footprint.

"From 2025 we will start to rebalance our production from Dublin to an expanded production centre in Cork. We then aim to increase production in Limerick and Galway. The Cork centre will bring greater balance to our output and offer diversity across our schedules, creating more long-running content strands on television, radio and digital. It will do so through a combination of both in-house production and scaling-up commissions from Cork."

The reform plan commits to internal cultural change and better governance and says that the much-maligned RTÉ Player will be updated.

"We will pursue positive changes in internal organisational culture and in particular improve the transparent exchange of information, communication and consultation. These initiatives, some of which are already underway, include: the establishment of a broader leadership forum for dialogue; building on the progress that has been achieved by working in collaboration with the TUG over many years; the creation of a staff engagement forum, to be representative of the range of roles and disciplines within the organisation; and more updates from the Leadership Team, along with more divisional briefings.

"RTÉ Player will transform to become one of the main ways people watch live programming, along with an extensive on-demand catalogue. This catalogue will be a point of differentiation, providing a unique collection in both Irish and English language. We will ensure a quality, consistent RTÉ Player service across all major connected devices. We will improve the user interface as well as the resilience and reliability of the service in order to achieve this. Our roadmap sets out continuous improvements over each year from 2024.

"We are working on developing a next generation service for Saorview to provide an expanded choice of free channels and on-demand content, combining Digital Terrestrial Television and broadband. The plan is to launch the service in 2025 subject to regulatory approvals, and the development of the new service. This will involve continued work with industry participants to roll-out the technology for this new service."

The broadcaster says that as part of its new strategy, it will move to prioritise live and on-demand content. As part of this, RTÉ says that it will shut both RTÉ One +1 and RTÉ2 +1.

Additionally, the broadcaster plans to shut RTÉ Radio 1 Extra, RTÉ 2XM, RTÉ Pulse and RTÉjr Radio.