The Future Of RTÉ Looks Concerning As They Warn Of Facing A “Serious Financial Position”

The Irish Times is stating that the National Broadcaster has told the Irish Government that it is facing a “serious financial position” as they record a deficit of over €6m for 2017.

The broadcaster states that the licence fee, Brexit and ad revenue woes are among the reasons for the worrying cry for help.

It is being said that the Cabinet will consider RTÉ’s annual report at its weekly meeting on Tuesday, although no record of the mention has been published in the Dáil’s Order Paper for the day.

RTÉ’s Director General, Dee Forbes has said in the past that they have considered upping the price of the licence-fee in order to combat their financial situation.

“It may appear to some that RTÉ has plenty of money” she said but confirmed that a new source of funding was needed before adding that the broadcaster was facing “urgent and substantial financial challenges”.

“Why is it acceptable the TV licence system in this country is so inefficient that over €60m goes uncollected every year? RTE is not asking for additional money from households. We are simply asking that the money the State itself believes is appropriate as a TV licence should be collected.”

However, her idea was tackled by Catherine Murphy TD who claimed that it was difficult to argue that RTÉ is short of money when it is able to be “shedloads of money” to its top earners.

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