The Cabinet has approved legislation bringing national broadcaster RTÉ under the supervision of the State’s spending watchdog.
New laws enacting the long-awaited change, which will see spending at the broadcaster overseen by the Comptroller & Auditor General, were brought to Cabinet by Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan on Tuesday.
The Bill also beefs up mechanisms for assessing the performance and funding of RTÉ, by requiring Coimisiún na Meán to assess the funding needs and to set performance targets for both the broadcaster and Irish language station TG4 every three years.
O’Donovan will meet RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst and its chair Terence O’Rourke on Tuesday afternoon.
READ MORE
The Government has said the reforms in the legislation will increase accountability and transparency at RTÉ and TG4 while also strengthening independent oversight.
Under the new legislation, RTÉ and TG4 will be required to prepare statements of strategy every three years, as opposed to the current five-year time frame, with Coimisiún na Meán also carrying out annual reviews of the degree to which RTÉ and TG4 met their performance targets, as well as compliance with State aid requirements.
Both will also have to disclose information on the pay of staff and contractors in bands determined by the Minister, while also publishing an annual report on the commissioning of independent productions.
Speaking before Cabinet, Tánaiste Simon Harris criticised an apparent “upstairs-downstairs” situation at RTÉ as station bosses are to be brought before the Department of Communications following a fresh payment controversy.
O’Donovan is due to meet station bosses on Tuesday evening after it was revealed that Derek Mooney has been at least its ninth highest-paid presenter since 2020 – but had not featured in annual lists because he was classified as a producer.
Donovan also said he wanted to “flesh out” why RTÉ paid Claire Byrne and Ray D’Arcy almost €100,000 after they left Radio One.
Speaking to reporters before Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Harris said: “I think there’s a lot of hard working and decent people in RTÉ who will feel let down by this latest set of revelations.”
He added: “I don’t want to push to personalise it to anyone, because I think that serves no purpose, but it’s beginning to look like there’s a little bit of an upstairs-downstairs situation going on in RTÉ, that certain producers can be over here, and that’s not fair. It’s not fair in any organisation.”
Harris said a lack of transparency was not acceptable to the Irish public as he criticised a “drip-feed” of information.
He added: “None of this ‘will there be another revelation?’. No salacious detail. We just need facts, information and transparency.”
O’Donovan said he expected to get “clarity” from RTÉ in today’s meeting and to find out who to blame in the wake of the further financial issues.
Before the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, he said: “We’ve been down this road before, and here we are again.”
He said RTÉ staff were “very aggrieved” and that he had received anonymous correspondence from people working at the broadcaster.
The legislation approved by Cabinet today will also require the broadcaster to spend at least 25 per cent of public funding commissioning programmes from independent producers, while the Broadcasting Fund will be rebranded as Ciste na Meán, supporting content across multiple formats.
Rules and standards applied to RTÉ and TG’s broadcast output are to be expanded to online content such as podcasts and website articles.
The legislation also clarifies that a “Netflix levy” on online streamers can only be introduced following ministerial direction, with impact assessments required before and after implementation.
RTÉ has sought the expertise of a consultant to examine how it is structured and resourced and to identify areas to “improve workflows” and “delivery” across TV, radio, online and social media.
Asked how much the consultant was being paid, O’Donovan said he did not know as he was not the director general.
Meanwhile, Oireachtas Media Committee member Malcolm Byrne said all personnel in RTÉ in receipt of more than €100,000 in salaries or payments should have those details published annually.
RTÉ is due to appear before that committee on Wednesday. – additional reporting: PA
