Further upheaval in RTÉ as major sale remains on cards

A potential sale of part of RTÉ’s Montrose campus remains firmly on the cards, ministers said this weekend.

The Cabinet are broadly supportive of Director General Kevin Bakhurst’s long-awaited blueprint to reform the national broadcaster.

Senior ministers said they are ‘encouraged’ by elements of the five-year plan, including the scheme for 400 redundancies and a partial sale of its Dublin 4 headquarters.

Almost exactly a year ago, it was revealed the Government and RTÉ expected 400 redundancies would be required.

One minister said: ‘Of course, our people [Government officials] have been speaking through back channels to Bakhurst’s people throughout.’

‘We let them know through your paper a year ago that, at the very least, we wanted to see 400 redundancies and they have delivered. That was a firm red line for us.’

‘We are assured that a large portion of these will be voluntary. Sadly, we all understand that if they aren’t voluntary, they will have to be sought through involuntary. But this is where we are, and we are concerned for all staff.’

Ministers said they understood ‘all options’ are on the table in relation to the highly valuable RTÉ site in Donnybrook.

And when asked directly if Mr Bakhurst is prepared to consider a partial sale of Montrose, an RTÉ spokesman said: ‘Yes’.

It is understood a sale of a portion of the site – most likely at the west end of the campus, behind the radio building on the site of the Fair City set – will raise hundreds of millions of euro.

RTÉ this week confirmed plans to move the production of Fair City and The Late Late Show from its Montrose base in Dublin as part of its new master plan.

Another Cabinet source said: ‘By getting these off-site, you are freeing up a lot of space. No matter what you hear coming from RTÉ, even a portion of this site will raise massive amounts of money. It could even raise the €300m in capital investment in studios and other things.’

‘We’re there quite often ourselves as politicians, and have you ever seen how much space is taken up with car parking? It’s not exactly required but the west of the site will be sold, we understand. This is probably the most prestigious portion of land that you will ever see come to the open market in Ireland in years.’

‘We understand that Mr Bakhurst is playing a lot of this down, the sale, but it’s hardly the way you push up the price of land, by saying we’re having a fire sale, come and get it.’

‘We also note that Bakhurst told staff last week that he had looked at sites on the M50 and in Dublin city centre, but it was not feasible. That is a softening up process for staying on a reduced site in Donnybrook.’

Cabinet members who attended a meeting about the future of RTÉ said a decision on funding model for the broadcaster now ‘hinges’ on Tánaiste Micheál Martin.

The Fianna Fáil leader has been firmly against wholly funding the State broadcaster directly from State coffers.

Taoiseach Simon Harris is understood to be softening on increasing Exchequer funding. However, all indications from Government are that the TV licence, which still raises €130m annually despite increased evasion, will be retained in a revised form.

It is understood the new Minister for Finance, Jack Chambers, will ally himself with Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe and insist on the retention of the licence fee.

This suggests Green Party efforts to secure full State funding are dead. Government will announce hybrid funding of RTÉ next month, with funding provisions for Virgin Media and maybe for regional broadcasting.