Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 March 2022
290. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if she has signed off on the revised strategy for RTÉ 2024; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13930/22]
View answerUnder Section 99 of the Broadcasting Act 2009, RTÉ is required to prepare a Statement of Strategy which is presented to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) and to my Department every five years. The current RTÉ Strategy, for the period 2018-2022, was reviewed by the BAI prior to being submitted to my Department and was subsequently laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas.
On foot of concerns regarding its financial position in 2019, RTÉ developed a revised financial strategy for the period up to 2024, which includes a range of measures to reduce costs and increase revenues, and commits RTÉ to achieving savings of €60 million over the three year period 2020–2022.
This revised financial strategy, which was submitted in August 2019, does not replace the existing statutory Statement of Strategy and as such did not require formal review by BAI. However, it was reviewed by my Department in consultation with NewERA, following which the Government decided to allocate an additional €9.3 million in funding to RTÉ as part of Budget 2020. This funding was provided through an increased contribution from the Department of Social Protection in respect of free TV licences, to enable the implementation by RTÉ of the package of agreed measures. A new reporting process was also introduced to enable ongoing monitoring by NewERA and my Department of the delivery by RTÉ of the revised strategy cost savings.
