Exchequer top-ups ‘not a reward’ for RTE mismanagement, Bakhurst says

Hundreds of millions of euro in guaranteed funding for RTE is not “a reward” for bad management, according to the station’s chief.

The Government has agreed a 725 million-euro financing programme for the crisis-hit national broadcaster over the next three years, coming from Exchequer-funded top-ups to licence fee sales.

Under the plan, after expected levels of licence fee sales are accounted for, the Government predicts it will directly provide the organisation with 42 million euro next year.

It follows a year of crisis management at the national broadcaster over a series of governance and financial scandals which further fuelled a years-long trend in declining TV licence revenue.

The Government decision has been criticised by rival commercial broadcaster Virgin Media Television as a “reward for inefficiency and all-round bad practice”.

RTE director-general Kevin Bakhurst rejected the comments on Thursday, saying: “I don’t see it at all as rewarding a series of mistakes that RTE made.

“It’s long been the case that RTE’s funding has not been sufficient to deliver what our public service remit is.”

Mr Bakhurst, who acknowledged it had been a difficult 13 months for RTE, said new procedures had been put in place to make sure past mistakes “do not happen again”.

He told RTE’s Morning Ireland that the funding was a reward for dealing with previous bad practice and setting out a new strategy.

“If you believe in public service broadcasting and media, it needs to be funded,” he said.

“I’ m actually very grateful to the Government, they could have ducked this decision entirely.”

RTE has set out a five-year reform strategy but the Government’s new funding road map only covers three years.

It is to receive 225 million euro next year which will rise to 240 million euro in 2026 and 260 million euro in 2027.

Mr Bakhurst said he expects funding after that to remain around the higher 2027 levels.

“I think the assumption is that becomes the new level we’re operating at.”

Asked about whether the new funding plan meant that RTE no longer had to be concerned about licence fee evasion, Mr Bakhurst said the organisation has a “moral responsibility” to demonstrate to the public that it is worth paying for.