RT\u00c9 director general Kevin Bakhurst has described a meeting with Minister for Media Patrick O\u2019Donovan as \u201cextremely constructive\u201d after a row broke out over funding for the State broadcaster.<\/p>\n
The meeting came after RT\u00c9 was allocated \u20ac240 million in the budget, \u20ac20 million less than was expected under the terms of a deal with the last government.<\/p>\n
Bakhurst and RT\u00c9 board chairman Terence O\u2019Rourke met O\u2019Donovan for just over an hour on Thursday afternoon. <\/p>\n
Bakhurst said afterwards: \u201cWe\u2019ve agreed that we\u2019re going to carry on working with his [O\u2019Donovan\u2019s] officials to try and find a resolution to this.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it was a \u201cvery positive\u201d meeting and that RT\u00c9 welcomed this but he would not be answering questions as the situation is \u201cdelicate enough\u201d, adding: \u201cWe want this process to be properly carried out\u201d.<\/p>\n
Bakhurst did not answer when asked if RT\u00c9 would be getting the money, but, asked if he has confidence in the minister, said: \u201cAbsolutely, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it will ask RT\u00c9 and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport to appear before it in the coming weeks regarding RT\u00c9 funding and staffing numbers.<\/p>\n
The move came after it emerged that RT\u00c9 is to be funded to the tune of \u20ac240 million next year, \u20ac20 million less than it had been expecting under a multiyear bailout deal between the last government and the broadcaster.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, O\u2019Donovan denied the move was a \u201ccut\u201d to RT\u00c9\u2019s funding, despite the previous Government promising to increase the amount to \u20ac260 million next year.<\/p>\n
He said the deal made with RT\u00c9 amounted to \u201calmost three-quarters of a billion euros … an enormous amount of money from the taxpayers\u201d.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donovan also said he was not happy with the pace of change at the broadcaster and its transition to being a \u201cmore agile, smaller\u201d organisation.<\/p>\n
Bakhurst has rejected O\u2019Donovan\u2019s assertion that the pace of reform at Montrose has been inadequate.<\/p>\n
The PAC chairman, John Brady of Sinn F\u00e9in, said on Thursday that there had been a comprehensive discussion among members at a private session and it had been agreed to schedule an engagement with the parties after the October break.<\/p>\n
He said there had been \u201cconsiderable concerns\u201d expressed by members of the committee.<\/p>\n
James Geoghegan of Fine Gael said the State had provided RT\u00c9 with \u20ac50 million as part of the broadcaster\u2019s reform strategy to fund a voluntary exit programme of 400 people. He said RT\u00c9 had maintained that 100 people had left the organisation.<\/p>\n
He said actually 67 people had departed under the exit scheme and the balance to the 100 figure was made up of posts that had been suppressed \u2013 following the retirement or resignation of staff members.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to hear from the secretary general of the department about what control mechanisms are being put in place so we don\u2019t arrive at the situation we are currently in where one side is saying the strategy is not being delivered and the other side is saying the strategy is being delivered and we don\u2019t know where the truth lies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On Thursday morning, The Irish Times reported that O\u2019Donovan warned Coalition leaders<\/a> in a letter last Friday that the Government would \u201crenege\u201d on its funding deal with RT\u00c9 if more cash wasn\u2019t found for his department.<\/p>\n It is understood that Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers<\/a>, T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris<\/a> and Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> believed that extra funding made available to the Department of Communications during tense negotiations over the weekend would solve any difficulties with the RT\u00c9 allocation, but were only made aware of this issue on the day the budget was announced.<\/p>\n [\u00a0TG4 and Screen Ireland budget funding amounts to \u2018cut\u2019 in real terms, industry warnsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Separately, it was confirmed that TG4<\/a>\u2019s funding would remain static next year. The Irish-language broadcaster had requested an additional \u20ac11 million in funding in Budget 2027, bringing its total allocation to \u20ac76.4 million. TG4 ard-sti\u00farth\u00f3ir Deirdre N\u00ed Choist\u00edn said the broadcaster would now have to \u201cassess the impact\u201d on its plans and strategic priorities for next year.<\/p>\n Ireland\u2019s media watchdog, Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n<\/a>, has expressed disappointment that Budget 2027<\/a> has \u201cnot allowed for the delivery of the level of funding to RT\u00c9<\/a> that was previously outlined in the Government\u2019s plans\u201d.<\/p>\n