RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst has said he is shocked and dismayed at the Minister for Media’s decision to withhold funding from the broadcaster.
Earlier today, Patrick O’Donovan confirmed that the broadcaster is to receive less funding than envisaged in Budget 2027 due to his dissatisfaction with what he called the broadcaster’s progress in implementing promised reforms.
The expected funding for RTÉ for 2027 was €260 million as part of the €725m three-year multi-year agreement, but today the minister said that next year’s allocation will stand at €240m in line with the funding for 2026 – a decrease of €20m.
Speaking to Nuacht RTÉ before attending a Raidió na Gaeltachta event in Donegal, Mr Bakhurst also claimed RTÉ never received an explanation from the minister as to why he was cutting funding to the station until hearing him reference the slow pace of reform at Montrose this afternoon.
“Sadly we only got about three hours notice ahead of the Budget that we were not going to get the expected amount as part of the multi-annual agreement. It came as a shock to us,” Mr Bakhurst said.
“We haven’t had an explanation. We were just told we weren’t getting the amount we were expecting to get.”
Watch: ‘It came as a shock to us’, says Kevin Bakhurst on RTÉ funding cut
It is understood that RTÉ was advised of the decision by the department yesterday before receiving formal communication this afternoon.
It is believed today’s correspondence made no correlation between the funding decision and RTÉ failing to meet reform targets set by Government.
At a press conference this afternoon, Mr O’Donovan referenced budgetary constraints on his department when coming to the decision around funding for RTÉ after spending curbs placed on his department by Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers.
A spokesperson for Mr Chambers declined to be drawn into the issue this evening.
Mr Bakhurst said RTÉ had already taken major decisions around investment outside of Dublin and the commissioning of programmes in sport and drama, based on the assumption it would receive €260m in Budget 2027.
He argued that RTÉ had already achieved 90% of its reform agenda as agreed with the Government as he once again rejected claims by Mr O’Donovan that Montrose had failed to meet reform targets.
Separately, speaking on RTÉ’s Drivetime, Minister for Environment Darragh O’Brien appealed for calm.
“I think first and foremost, people need to sit down and discuss this. I think there’s a way forward to this, which would be for RTÉ to sit down with the minister and discuss this,” he said.
Mr Bakhurst said that he “completely rejects the assertion that the pace of reform and transformation” within the organisation has been slow.
In an email to staff this afternoon, Mr Bakhurst said that this decision “is one we had not anticipated and will inevitably impact on our ability to deliver our five-year strategy”.
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Speaking at a Budget briefing at Government Buildings earlier, Mr O’Donovan indicated the decision to keep RTÉ’s funding was partly because he was “not happy that we haven’t seen the smaller more agile processes that we sought”.
He also referenced budgetary constraints on his own department amid spending curbs across Government departments for Budget 2027.
Mr O’Donovan said RTÉ will still get an €11m “uplift” in Exchequer funding rather than a planned €31m. Government sources point out this represents a 20% increase in Exchequer funding.
RTÉ plans to reduce its headcount by up to 400 in the period up to 2029. It delivered 97 exits in 2025 (67 VEP exits and 30 additional role suppressions).
Mr O’Donovan also confirmed he will bring a memo to Cabinet shortly regarding the television licence with a “number of options” available.
He also asked the new An Post CEO Fergal Leamy to “prioritise” actions around the licence fee as he moves towards a decision around its future.
‘There was pressure across all sectors’
When asked to respond to Mr Bakhurst’s statement in relation to the €240m funding allocation for next year, Mr O’Donovan said: “We received a considerable Budget there from Jack Chambers and when we look at Government commitments, we have a number of key deliverables and there was pressure across all sectors.”
He also said that there are many agencies that are dependent on his department, such as Sport Ireland, The Arts Council and Coimisiún na Meán and “we have very little scope in relation to where the resources needed to be assigned”.
Mr O’Donovan said that the total allocation he received was €847m.
“We were not in the space to allocate RTÉ the funding for 2027, with the commitments including basic income for the arts, competing demands in health, social protection and we are conscious that we are quite a small department.”
In relation to RTÉ, he said that “we all know that we have seen progress slowed, with regard to implementation of reforms at RTÉ”.
“RTÉ might be disappointed, but we have base funding on costs for families in this Budget and everyone has to give a part for that.”
The National Union of Journalists has strongly condemned the Government’s decision to cut funding to RTÉ.
In a statement, the union criticised the decision as reneging on its commitment to provide multi-annual funding to the public service broadcaster.
The RTÉ Trade Union Group said that it is “seriously concerned” by the announcement.
Meanwhile, media regulator Coimisiún na Meán has said it was “disappointing that the budget parameters have not allowed” the amount of funding for RTÉ which was previously outlined.
It said that it will engage with RTÉ to understand the impact of the decision for the delivery of the station’s services and performance commitments.
No increase in TG4 funding
Meanwhile, it also emerged that Irish language station TG4 did not get an increase in funding in yesterday’s Budget.
The station has sought an additional €11m for 2027. Total funding in the current year was €65m and that will not change next year.
The head of the station, Ard-Stiúrthóir Deirdre Ní Choistín expressed her disappointment at the funding refusal.
“It’s a big disappointment there is no increase in TG4 funding in Budget 2027, at a time when there is significant interest in the Irish language and greater demand than ever for Irish language content,” she said.
“The decision does not consider the value the public gets from TG4, value that is proven by the continued increase in viewing audiences and how TG4 adds to the economy.”
The decision comes as TG4 prepares to celebrate 30 years since its foundation in 1996.
The Ard-Stiurthóir said an opportunity has been missed to invest in a service that pursues cultural, social and economic aims and TG4 will now have to look at their plans and strategic aims for next year.
