A plan to cut jobs and generate savings at RTÉ has been stymied by what senior figures within the national broadcaster perceive as a lack of urgency on the Government’s part, the Business Post reports.
The programme of voluntary redundancies, a central plank of director general Kevin Bakhurst’s plan to overhaul RTÉ and deliver change following the 2023 payments scandal, was estimated to cost €50 million, or €125,000 for each of the 400 staff members expected to depart.
However, the broadcaster is still awaiting final approval and funding for the scheme from the Department of Public Expenditure and Minister Jack Chambers, upon whom pressure is mounting within the Government to release the funds.
Senior figures in RTÉ have grown frustrated with the department for the delay, which, the paper reports, prevents RTÉ from executing other aspects of the turnaround strategy, including plans to invest in the RTÉ Player.
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After launching the strategy in June last year and hailing it as a “transformational moment”, Mr Bakhurst has reportedly described the delays to staff as “incredibly frustrating”.
Glenveagh inks €55m deal for Kildare-Meath lands
Also in the Business Post, after signalling its intention to “significantly expand” its land bank last year, housebuilder Glenveagh has acquired some 250 acres on the Kildare-Meath border for a reported €55 million.
With the capacity to deliver some 9,000 homes, the lands at Moygaddy, Co Kildare were reported to be valued at €40 million in 2023 during a legal wrangle over plans to develop the site.
In a trading update last month, the home builder said it has now secured planning permission for 2,487 units ensuring that all targeted output for 2025 is fully approved.
It has a forward order book for home sales worth €950 million, up 48 per cent on the year.
BT in ‘advanced talks’ to sell Irish business
BT is in “advanced talks” to sell its Irish telecoms business to London-based investment fund Cordiant, the Sunday Times reports, after exiting its two data centres in the Republic last year.
The fund, which owns Enet, the operator of Ireland’s fibre-optic metropolitan area networks, has been in exclusive talks to buy the British telecoms operator’s wholesale and infrastructure assets in the Republic. A deal could be announced in the coming weeks, the paper reports, bringing together BT’s 4,300km fibre network and Cordiant-owned Speed Fibre’s 5,400km of fibre and wireless infrastructure.
Late last year, BT agreed to spin out and sell its two data centres in Ireland to Equinix for a reported €59 million.
Student bed delivery falls behind schedule
Just 116 of the more than 3,700 student beds promised by the Government since 2022 have been delivered, the Sunday Independent reports, amid surging student numbers.
New analysis by planning consultancy Mitchell McDermott has revealed that there are currently 50,000 student beds available but demand is set to hit 90,000 beds in 2025.
Meanwhile, just 576 beds are expected to be delivered this year in time for the commencement of the 2025/26 academic year.
“The biggest problem is that the viability of student accommodation is very tight,” Mitchell McDermott co-founder Paul Mitchell told the paper. “Unlike in other sectors, the rising construction cost can’t be passed on to students because there is an affordability issue.”
Bankinter says it ‘won’t have to overpay’ to win Irish deposits
Finally, the owner of Ireland’s newest bank has poured cold water on the notion that it will offer significant incentives to win Irish savers.
Bankinter, which last month announced plans to turn its Avant Money subsidiary into a full-fledged Irish branch, is planning to raise between €100 million and €200 million of Irish deposits this year.
The “small figure” suggests the Spanish lender’s Irish plans will not significantly shake up competition in the market here when it launches its savings accounts later this year, the Sunday Independent reports.
Meanwhile, Bankinter chief executive Gloria Portero told analysts recently not to expect “masses of volumes” in Irish deposits in 2025 and said she does not expect to have to “overpay significantly” to win Irish business.
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