Ministers say a day of reckoning is coming for RTÉ as Cabinet are becoming increasingly bemused by one repeated aspect of broadcast chief Kevin Bakhurst's Committee performances...

Published: 23:18, 12 July 2026 | Updated: 23:18, 12 July 2026 RTÉ should not plan for another Government bailout due to changed political and media landscapes, senior ministers warned. In briefings to the Mail, Cabinet sources said a ‘day of reckoning’ could well come when the 725 million euro bailout agreed in the run up to the 2024 General Election expires because RTÉ and Director General Kevin Bakhurst does not have significant support in government. Ministers are also becoming increasingly bemused by Mr Bakhurst’s confrontational manner and refusal to ‘accept’ the reality of the ‘changed world as it pertains to RTÉ’. A Cabinet source said: ‘We are a long time out from looking at State budgets for 2028, and RTÉ should understand a number of things.  'We don’t know where we will be financially in 2027, and RTÉ has not shown us evidence that it has reformed its finances since the last bailout.’ The minister said it is accepted within Government ‘that it is early yet for them to show massive results’. But they added: ‘Bakhurst himself conceded at the PAC [Public Accounts Committee] last week that there has been no reduction in staff costs since.’ On Thursday, the RTÉ boss told the Dáil spending committee RTÉ’s commercial revenue and licence fee receipts would fall between €60 million and €65 million short of its operating costs in 2028, after a Government support package runs out. One minister noted: ‘The multi–annual bailout was agreed under a previous Taoiseach, and there will be a different Taoiseach by the time this informal agreement comes around for what they seem to think is a [bailout] renewal.’ After a year of scandal at the national broadcaster, sparked by disclosures about secret payments to former Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy, the then Fianna Fáil–Fine Gael–Green Party coalition agreed a €725 million bailout over a three–year period covering 2025, 2026 and 2027. However, this was contingent on economic circumstances and RTÉ’s much–vaunted five–year plan, which included cost savings and a 400–strong redundancy programme. One minister said: ‘The bailout for RTÉ was agreed in the run–up to the 2024 general election and there was a different composition in government. ‘Leo Varadkar was Taoiseach until just before it was agreed and Micheál Martin had a stronger position.  'Crucially, there was a Green Media Minister [Catherine Martin] who is long gone. ‘We’ve a different government, different personalities.  'The media minister is now Patrick O’Donovan and besides having a totally different attitude to RTÉ he is, very unfortunately, ill at the moment.  'But both [Public Expenditure Minister Jack] Chambers and [Tánaiste and Finance Minister Simon] Harris are in key positions and carry completely different views about RTÉ.’ Mr Chambers is known to be very pessimistic about the future of RTÉ.  Just last week he warned a ‘more sustainable model’ is needed to replace the existing TV licence fee, as 19 per cent fewer people are now paying the fee compared with four years ago. A Department of Public Expenditure source told the MoS: ‘I think Bakhurst and co need to get a firmer grip on the reality that is facing them in the coming years.  'There are many in government who feel that a big decision was swerved in 2024 for a variety of reasons.  'The Media Minister [Catherine Martin] supported a bailout, the Taoiseach had just resigned and an election was just around the corner. ‘That decision has to be made in 2027 though. Harris will be Taoiseach then and I think RTÉ will have to face reality then.  'What should have happened in 2024, where the news and current affairs division split from the rest of the organisation.  'Many of us in government were of the belief that was going to happen… then it didn’t.’ In an interview with the MoS in July 2024, Mr Bakhurst claimed he was assured by the Government that the State would continue to fund RTÉ up to 2029. He said at the time: ‘What was really clear to me, because I did ask about this obviously, is you can’t get three years into a strategy and then stop delivering it or not be able to finish it off or deliver the rest of it.  'And it was really, really clear to me that, you know, the Government had accepted the strategy, and was supportive of the strategy and the funding would be there. ‘So that strategy could be delivered over a period of five years.’ Both [Public Expenditure Minister Jack] Chambers and [Tánaiste and Finance Minister Simon] Harris are in key positions and carry completely different views about RTÉ In response to queries from the MoS this week, RTÉ said: ‘The essential point made by the Director General yesterday [at the PAC hearing] – and previously – is that as RTÉ is dependent on public funding as Ireland’s national public service media organisation, RTÉ will ask government to continue to provide public funding to enable us to continue to deliver our five–year strategy and the vital transformation of RTÉ.’ However, Mr Bakhurst’s spokesman stressed the drop in TV licence revenue is causing many difficulties. He said in a statement: ‘Ongoing issues with the TV Licence funding model (which pre–dates 2023) mean that RTÉ has sought and received additional funding which we remain grateful for and which has enabled us to plan ahead, to deliver more to audiences as part of our ambitious plans and restore trust. ‘As Kevin Bakhurst said in a note to staff this week, public funding enables RTÉ to meet our commitment to deliver a wide range of public service content and programming to audiences.’ The broadcaster also welcomed the Government’s endorsement of its 2024 bailout. ‘Minister Jack Chambers said explicitly on the record this week that the Government would honour the three–year funding agreement for RTÉ,’ the spokesman noted. Responding to Cabinet criticisms, the spokesman said: ‘RTÉ has stabilised its finances as part of its programme of reform and to date has submitted pages of detail to the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport… and the PAC providing evidence of the extensive reforms which have taken place in RTÉ over the last three years.  'These documents demonstrate how much reform RTÉ has undertaken – as will RTÉ’s 2025 Annual Report which is due to be published shortly.’ Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.