RTÉ to begin consultations with union representatives on proposed cost-cutting measures

Consultations on the proposed programme of cost-cutting measures including up to 400 job losses over the next four years will start at RTÉ on Thursday morning with union representatives participating in the first of a series of focus groups to be conducted by the research firm RedC.

Representatives of the broadcaster’s Trade Union Group (TUG) said on Wednesday afternoon that promised detail on how other staff members would be able to engage with the process had yet to be delivered.

Cearbhall Ó Síocháin, secretary of the TUG, said union representatives planned to participate in the focus groups but were unaware of how comprehensive that process might be.

He said there had been “a lot of anger in the room” on Tuesday as people were briefed on RTÉ's new strategy, but that the wider consultation process “would start to give a sense of what people made of what was said yesterday”.

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Mr Ó Síocháin said director general Kevin Bakhurst had given assurances that, where an individual was working on a programme that was to be transferred to the independent sector, there “would not be pressure on you to fall on your sword and take a package. There will be retraining and other options available”.

However, Mr Ó Síocháin said the scale of cuts envisaged had added to a sense of uncertainty with which staff at the organisation had been dealing for years. “Nobody knows who the 400 are and it seems that uncertainty is going be ongoing for the next few years.”

Speaking to The Irish Times, Mr Bakhurst said the planned 50 per cent increase in spending on independent commissioning “won’t happen overnight”.

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Asked whether the TV drama Fair City could be outsourced to an independent production company, he said: “I don’t want to start singling out anything, it is not fair on the programme teams. But I think overall we will have to look at all our main programming and decide whether it is better off made in-house or whether there are opportunities to make it in the independent production sector.”

An independently produced Fair City could qualify for Section 481 tax relief, whereas its current status as an in-house programme means it does not. The drama also has a relatively large budget with Mr Bakhurst placing its annual cost at €12 million.

“It is a big chunk of money, yeah, but it delivers great audiences and it is performing well,” he said.