Media minister cannot say how much of RTÉ's €725m funding package will be spent on redundancies 

Catherine Martin said RTÉ had 'allowed' for exit payments within its strategy, but could not provide even a rough estimate of the pot allocated to fund them

RTÉ has indicated it will reduce staff numbers by 400 as part of its strategy of reform. Picture: Dan Linehan

Media Minister Catherine Martin cannot say how much of RTÉ's €725m funding package will be spent on redundancies and has yet to decide if exit payments will be capped.

RTÉ has indicated it will reduce staff numbers by 400 as part of its strategy of reform, however, the breakdown between retirements, natural attrition and voluntary redundancies has not been publicly specified.

Ms Martin would not say how many redundancies have been put forward by RTÉ, saying she would not be revealing the overall figure until the redundancy scheme was signed off on.

"We are examining that at the minute," she said.

"I know that there's a strategy there and it's clear that it's not all going on voluntary redundancy," she said of the broadcaster's plan of reform.

The Government has signed off on a three-year funding package for RTÉ at its final meeting of the term.

It is expected RTÉ will get €105m in funding from the TV licence fee next year.

Next year, RTÉ will receive €225m in public funding — of this, it is expected €105m will come from the TV licence fee; a further €78m will come from payment of the free licences by the Department of Social Protection, while exchequer funding will amount to €42m.

The total amount will increase to €240m in 2026 and will again rise to €260m in 2027.

However, Ms Martin could not provide a breakdown for these years, saying: "We have to wait to see what the TV licence revenue will be."

A review of the funding required in future years will be carried out in year three, but the minister revealed RTÉ said it would need €270m in 2028 and €276m in 2029.

Ms Martin denied she was rewarding bad behaviour by increasing public funding to RTÉ, which has been dogged by multiple controversies in the wake of the Ryan Tubridy payment scandal.

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She said: "I think the lesson is you need to change, you need to reform and what we've seen ever since Kevin Bakhurst came into place is change and reform happening and more will take place too."

Asked about the level of funds that will be spent on redundancies, Ms Martin said RTÉ had "allowed for that" within its strategy, but could not provide even a rough estimate of the pot allocated to exit payments.

"I'm waiting for for Department of Public Expenditure to confirm that it has all the necessary information, so we have received a proposal and it goes to the Department of Public Expenditure. They have to confirm to me that they have all the necessary information to provide sanction from both myself and Minister Donohoe," she said.

When pressed on whether exit payments will be capped, she said: "I think we have to be very careful in how we manage public funds, taxpayers' money, so we will look at that."