RTÉ are facing up to €20 million in losses this year – according to a new report.
The national broadcaster is said to have lost a serious amount of cash due to lower advertising deals – which was a knock on effect of the Brexit vote.
According to the Irish Independent, new director general of the station Dee Forbes met with Minister for Communications Denis Naughten to “impress upon him the seriousness of the financial difficulties facing the organisation”.
Tough times: Cuts are expected at the station | VIPIRELAND.COM
Apparently managers have been informing staff of the financial difficulties and that staff in RTÉ are preparing themselves for cuts – as well as possible redundancies.
Staff at the station already agreed to pay cuts during the recession, and now this is set to be reviewed.
As well as the huge losses for 2016, it is expected the station won’t break even in 2017.
A spokesman for RTÉ said the station had expected some difficulties this year, because of the Olympics and other events.
“These factors, coupled with growing licence fee evasion levels and declines in public funding over a five- year period, along with Brexit, mean that 2016 has been an extraordinarily challenging year for RTE.
“While RTE continues to maintain an acute focus on cost management, the funding of public service media, and in turn investment levels in the independent production sector, remain critical issues,” they said.
