RTÉ has been dealt a blow with the Government refusing to grant the station a full inflationary increase in the licence fee. The Government is also to investigate whether RTÉ is distorting the advertising market.
The licence fee is rising by €2, to €152, and this takes effect from January 1st. This represents an increase of 1.3 per cent, but inflation is running at 2.2 per cent. A full inflationary increase would have involved a rise of €3.50.
The chairman of the RTÉ Authority, Mr Paddy Wright, described the decision as a "missed opportunity".
"While welcoming the increase of €2, I believe it represents only a partial recognition of change achieved by RTÉ and therefore a missed opportunity by Government to fully recognise the dramatic changes made at all levels in RTÉ," he said.
The Government expressed concern at the lack of "substantive progress" in relation to reducing staff numbers at RTÉ.
The Minister for Communications, Mr Ahern, said he intended telling RTÉ in 2004 that staff numbers must be addressed.
While critical on the staffing issue, a review of RTÉ operations for 2003 by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, conducted on behalf of the Minister, concluded that RTÉ had "achieved a significant amount of what had been agreed for 2003 particularly with respect to programme output".
Despite this, the Minister will be arranging for an external review of the impact on all broadcasters of the licence fee paid to RTÉ. It will look at possible distortions in the advertising market.
The RTÉ group of unions welcomed the decision to increase the licence fee, but categorically rejected the assertion that not enough redundancies were achieved in the organisation during 2003.
"169 people have voluntarily left RTÉ since a public service broadcasting reform package was announced in December 2002 and trade unions representing RTÉ staff will resist any further attempt to cut staff numbers," said a statement.
A special meeting of the group of unions has been called for Thursday, December 18th, to consider a response to the Minister's announcement.
"It appears to be that the government is not interested in a strong public service broadcaster which makes quality home-produced programming," said the statement.