RTÉ plans major Dublin downsizing

A year on from the RTÉ scandal spawning the greatest crisis the state broadcaster has ever known, the recovery plan has been laid out.

Last summer, the nation was enthralled by stories of flip-flops and undisclosed payments, but now the focus has turned to how exactly RTÉ will reform itself.

On June 25, RTÉ published “A New Direction: Statement Of Strategy 2025-2029” which outlined how the broadcaster plans to navigate the next five years.

The headline policies from the document reveal that RTÉ wants to reduce their slate of operations on the Southside, move more production to Cork, cut up to 400 jobs over the next five years, and commission more content from independent producers.

The “re-balance” of employment from Dublin to other RTÉ facilities in Ireland features heavily in the plan.

RTÉ boss Kevin Bakhurst said the plan was about “ensuring the future and the relevance of a transformed RTÉ.”

“It is about delivering a strong and independent public service, available to everyone; it is about creating a trusted organisation delivering for Irish audiences; it is about backing creative ambition and digital innovation; it is about supporting Irish culture and bringing people together; it is about reflecting all of the country and supporting the creative industry across the island.”

“It is ambitious – but it is deliverable.”

In the statement, Bakhurst stressed that he wants to make RTÉ more transparent and accountable.

The plans to restore RTÉ’s trust in the eyes of the public appears to be a tall order – statistics from January showed that licence fee renewals in Ireland dropped 13% in the six months following the outbreak of the various scandals that hit RTÉ last summer.

The steep drop-off in licence fee revenue translated to €19 million in lost revenue in 2023, adding to the existing financial problems at RTÉ.

RTÉ’s road map for the next five years can be interpreted as RTÉ engaging in belt-tightening, cost-cutting measures to get RTÉ back onto firm financial footing.

The fate of the licence fee remains up in the air, with Minister Catherine Martin attempting to make the case that RTÉ should be entirely funded by the Exchequer, which former Minister for Finance Michael McGrath rejected out of hand.

With the hiring of Jack Chambers as Minister for Finance following McGrath’s move to Europe, it remains to be seen if Chambers will hold the same views as his predecessor on the issue. 

RTÉ’s financial fate is likely to remain unresolved until Budget time.

Chair of the Board of RTÉ Terence O’Rourke said “public service media is facing fundamental challenges; RTÉ is not immune to this and throughout its long history it has adapted its services from radio to television to online to the Player.”

“Now, technology, social media and shifts in how information is consumed have all framed a new world in which RTÉ must go through a radical evolution to continue to serve and reflect Irish society into the future. We, as a Board, have tested this strategy and believe it offers a realistic roadmap for the organisation to change. Its vision is clear. Its financial underpinning is realistic and sustainable.”

The most controversial element of RTÉ’s plan is the loss of 400 jobs at the state broadcaster over the next five years, which SIPTU has said they will fight against.

The plan also details a sizeable amount of outsourcing of jobs to private production companies on the likes of flagship shows such as the Late Late Show and Fair City.

Dubbing the measures as “privatisation by stealth,” SIPTU said that the planned job cuts at RTÉ were a “kick in the teeth.”

SIPTU Organiser, Martin Mannion, said “RTÉ management’s proposals to cut jobs and outsource productions, such as the Late, Late Show and Fair City, are being forced on staff without consultation with them or their union. Rather than a considered response to the crisis facing RTÉ what we are witnessing is a cynical move by management towards the privatisation of the station.” 

SIPTU member and broadcast engineer, Ciaran Kelly, added “if RTÉ management believes that it will be allowed to erode conditions of employment that were long fought for and hard-won it is seriously mistaken.”

National Union of Journalists secretary Séamus Doolan said “any negotiations on the future direction of RTÉ will have to take place in the context of existing collective agreements and will require a radical change in the management culture of the organisation.”

He expressed concern over RTÉ’s direction and questioned how effective outsourcing would be in this context.

“The changes in corporate governance have not been matched by a change in management style in many parts of RTÉ,” he told the Irish Examiner.

Trevor Keegan of the NUJ told Newstalk that RTÉ staff were “bearing the brunt of problems they did not cause.”

“In our eyes, moving off-site is out-sourcing and to some degree, it is the same as privatisation of some programmes.”

Under the plans, RTÉ will invest in a new studio in Cork, along with new production facilities.

They said the move to Cork would result in what they call “better distribution of public media funding across the country.”

The document read “RTÉ’s production centre in Cork will also have a dedicated regional commissioning editor, whose remit will be to increase our investment in and support the growth of production companies based outside of Dublin.”

“Current Dublin-based staff will be provided with the option of relocation to take up newly created or open positions in other centres,” the document read.

At present, just 13% of RTÉ’s staff are based outside Dublin, and the plan envisions as much as 20% of RTÉ’s full-time employees being based outside Dublin by 2029.

The job cuts at Donnybrook are also part of RTÉ wanting to “streamline”, and by reducing staff by up to 400 RTÉ claims they will have “reduced overheads on a small physical footprint with fewer people on-site due to headcount reductions and further increases in hybrid working.”

In terms of what the plans mean for the everyday consumer, RTÉ announced that will be shuttering the likes of RTÉ One +1 and RTÉ 2 +1 in a bid to reduce costs associated with terrestrial television.

There are plans to further increase the prevalence of the RTÉ player, and by 2029, RTÉ envisions having 50% of all non-live content shown on RTÉ available on the RTÉ Player before it is shown on traditional broadcast.

Digital radio services such as RTÉ Radio 1 Extra, RTÉ 2XM, RTÉ Pulse, and RTÉjr Radio will be shuttered as part of the cost-saving measures.

The report notes that in 2023, RTÉ commissioned 495 hours of original Irish television with 45% of commissions granted to Dublin-based production companies, 44% from other counties and 10% from Northern Ireland. 

A public consultation was launched as part of the report’s findings, and RTÉ that 72% of those polled “RTÉ should make fewer programmes in Dublin, and more outside of Dublin.”