Ivan Yates has said RTE’s future plans to shed 400 jobs over five years and cut salaries at the station “won’t be enough to secure the future of RTE”.
The former Tonight Show host was reacting to RTE’s published report, which reveals that the broadcast’s Director General Kevin Bakhurst plans to reduce staff by 20 per cent by 2028, as well as an increased spend on outside commissioning, decentralisation of operations outside Dublin and a range of financial and governance reforms, including an anonymised register of the top 100 earners.
The ex-Fine Gael Minister told us it is not enough to secure the station’s future.
Ivan told us: “I believe it is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t go far enough. We’re now seeing that the full extent of the non-compliance of the licence fee wasn’t evident, which was an additional problem to underlying losses of E50M a year.
“Absolutely, this is a step in the right direction but it will actually require another surgical procedure in two years’ time. Some of the cuts are unimplementable but obviously it is sea change from where we were at in terms of denial and the Oliver Twist routine of the last six years looking for more money from the State but the reality of the pace of decline in the business model and the monetisation in the media is such that it won’t be enough to actually secure the future of RTE.
“I’ve always advocated a publisher model. I’ve always said that the payroll and numbers were unsustainable. I think there is now an acknowledgement for people who rubbished what I said.
“This is now on the right road, but it still won’t be enough and sometimes the expression ‘don’t waste a good crisis’ – this is a crisis for RTE. An existential crisis and I actually think the management could’ve gone further.”
Mr Yates said he thinks there will be more cuts to come in 18 months. “And I think they will have to revisit this in 18 months’ time.”
Amongst the plans will be to make sure salaries will not exceed Mr Bakhurst’s E250K salary. Mr Yates said “the winds of change will be pressing downwards on salaries”.
“I think the winds of change are going to be really pressing downwards on salaries and to that extent I would agree with Kevin Bakhurst but I actually think there is so much dead wood in Rte.
“The low hanging fruit and the publicity and the cheap headlines is to cut presenters' pay but I can see some return on the investment in presenter’s pay. I see a whole layer of management that gives no return on investment.
“There is no doubt that both in the private and public sector presenter’s salaries are only heading in the one direction and that is south.”
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