Exchequer top-ups ‘not a reward’ for RTÉ mismanagement, Bakhurst says

Hundreds of millions of euro in guaranteed funding for RTÉ is not “a reward” for bad management, according to the station’s chief.

The Government has agreed a €725 million financing programme for the crisis-hit national broadcaster over the next three years, coming from Exchequer-funded top-ups to licence fee sales.

Under the plan, after expected levels of licence fee sales are accounted for, the Government predicts it will directly provide the organisation with €42 million next year.

It follows a year of crisis management at the national broadcaster over a series of governance and financial scandals which further fuelled a years-long trend in declining TV licence revenue.

The Government decision has been criticised by rival commercial broadcaster Virgin Media Television as a “reward for inefficiency and all-round bad practice”.

RTÉ director-general Kevin Bakhurst rejected the comments on Thursday, saying: “I don’t see it at all as rewarding a series of…