Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LIKE MOST PEOPLE in this country, I grew up watching and listening to RTÉ through some of the most important changes in this country’s history. It’s provided an invaluable service, catering for all the different tastes of Irish society.
As time has gone on and with the advent of new services like Netflix, streaming and social media, the way we are entertained and consume news has changed drastically.
Why is RTÉ losing money?
This was evident when RTÉ released its annual report showing a net deficit of €19.7m after tax. It’s clear this situation is not sustainable, however, how we decide to fix it will be a point of contention.
Indeed, there’s already been talk of job cuts, increases in the licence fee, retransmission fees and even a bailout. All of these solutions end with the consumer paying the price, be it through a decline in quality or an increase in costs.
But why is RTÉ losing money? Having a dominant position in the Irish market with guaranteed income from the licence fee, RTÉ should be able to make a profit. RTÉ’s Director General Dee Forbes said the impact of Brexit and licence fee evasion rates had contributed to their losses. She even went as far to call for an increase of the licence fee to €175.
2017 was a landmark year for advertising in Ireland, for the first time in history the amount spent on digital advertising in Ireland is expected to overtake traditional media. Irish advertisers are tipped to spend €433 million on digital ads this year, up 12% on 2016’s tally, mostly benefitting tech giants like Twitter, Google and Facebook. We’ve seen other newspapers like INM experiencing great difficulties adjusting to these new realities. We need to change our approach to funding this public service if it is to survive.
RTÉ’s assets
To change a business, you have to do an analysis of what assets it has to leverage change. RTÉ sits on 25 acres of land in the most exclusive area of Dublin. Located beside the plush Ailesbury road and within a 20-minute walk of Dublin’s central business district, RTÉ’s best asset is its land.
It’s not surprising that Cairn homes bought 8.64 acres of RTÉ’s 25 acres for €107.5 million. Based on this transaction, it would be reasonable to estimate that the rest of RTÉ’s land would be valued at over €200 million.
With Dublin in the midst of a housing crisis and with new businesses moving into the central business district, demand is set to skyrocket for high-quality apartments in this area. How will selling this land facilitate change?
A new business model
As a rural TD, it’s a constant theme in every election of the over reliance on Dublin for growth. It has skewed regional disparities and is unsustainable in the long run.
My proposal is to see real meaningful decentralisation. For RTÉ, this would mean moving RTÉ outside of Dublin, into an area with a surplus of housing and cheap land costs and funding it through the sale of the Donnybrook studio.
This would mean moving the majority of the 1,984 RTÉ employees out of Dublin to rural Ireland and establishing a smaller office in Dublin city centre for news and current affairs. By moving the main studio outside Dublin, RTÉ could invest in modern studio space and introduce meaningful structural changes to adapt to future consumer demands.
I also believe by moving RTÉ to rural Ireland, it creates an opportunity to change its funding mechanism away from reliance on traditional advertising and the TV licence. Demand for film and television studio space in Ireland from international productions remains high thanks to the Section 481 tax incentive scheme.
The government’s Creative Ireland Strategy plans to make Ireland an international hub for film and TV production, by allowing our state broadcaster to create a state of the art studio with access to RTÉ’s facilities, it would diversify RTÉ’s revenues with fees from international productions funding public services.
Marc MacSharry is a Fianna Fáil TD representing Sligo-Leitrim, he is a member of the Public Accounts Committee.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
What would Joe Duffy do if RTE moved to rural Ireland?! He’s never been outside Dublin
@John Ryan: He’s right. Move RTE to Sligo. Let it broadcast countywide, and leave the rest of us alone.
@John Ryan: I thought Mr J Duffy was in every city, town, village , in Ireland well he acts as if he had been .
Any savings made would be invested in getting it’s superstars from Dublin to wherever.
@John Ryan: he wouldn’t live outside Dublin
So they sell a fixed asset that brings in a one time lump sum and use that to finance ongoing operational costs? With logic like that no wonder Fianna Fáil bankrupted the country.
@Chris Mansfield: the lump sum would be used to build a new base and pay off the useless “employees “
@Chris Mansfield: The party that treated stamp duty from houses as something that could be used to fund operational expenditure!
@Chris Mansfield: I agree Chris. It’s a typical FF rural TD stun. They never saw a state asset they couldn’t plunder or asset strip. It offers nothing substantive except sell the land, bulldoze the assets and then spend all the money rebuilding those assets elsewhere and paying for the relocation of employees. It’s exactly the same BS which FF used to inflict civil service decentralisation by scattering departments to small ritual towns, totally ignoring their own spatial hub town strategy, in the pursuit of votes. The damage caused to the civil service still hasn’t been repaired. It also cost over a billion in land and office acquisition mostly wasted. I see they have learned nothing.
Shut it down and let people keep their hard earned cash.
@john Appleseed: sure who needs someone to stand up to Denis O’Brien & Rupert Murdoch in the news?
@Colm Flaherty: They own us already. One little step (water charges) and they could do anything with Ireland because nobody can survive without water.
@Colm Flaherty: The only people RTE stand up to is the people who don’t pay the licence
You’d have to pay the 1,984 staff to move…
@Barry O’Brien: no you wouldn’t.
@Joseph Bloggs:
If you don’t pay them to move you would have to pay the redundancy. Just because you may not like the organisation does not mean you can take away the employees rights. Not everyone working their fits into the media focused high salary band
@Nick Allen: unless it’s in their contracts that they get paid compensation or are automatically offered redundancy in the event of the company moving premises then they don’t have to give them a penny.
@Joseph Bloggs: and if that happens I think it’s appalling for the staff.
I’m also not a big hater of RTE like most.
@Joseph Bloggs: or else pay them off
@Nick Allen: they are not employees. They have there own companies.
@Paul Coughlan: you’re thinking of about 15 known employees. There’s another 1900 odd that are employed directly by RTE
@Joseph Bloggs: Most of them related to someone higher up.
@Rob Cahill: can you prove that?
@Joseph Bloggs: personally I woul’nt mind paying a 1 time fee…if it was to shut down RTE
@Barry O’Brien: Or use dynamite to shift them?
Let the people have a bloody say for once….if you think RTE is worth the money then buy a licence, if not then don’t. We should be required by law to pay for this dribble.
Not the first to suggest it… they could do with a small city-centre TV & radio studio with capacity for small audience near Government Buildings, but the rest of the campus could be relocated elsewhere. It had been mooted before the Recession hit that they might relocate towards Abbotstown, as far as I recall. That might be too jarring a change for the RTÉ staff, but an office-building in Sandyford would be a reasonable move without having to pay through the nose for relocation payments.
@Brian Lenehan: That said, they could be relocated anywhere in the country. There’s a wonderful site at the old MBNA HQ in Carrick on Shannon that would be a great location for it. Property is cheap and plentiful there, the quality of life there is excellent.
@Brian Lenehan: any thoughts as to why no one else has jumped at this great opportunity?
Sharon No Bheolain can come to Leitrim anytime.
@Jimmy Leahy: Is there an old well there where a boy fell down in it lol.
How does Brexit impact on Rte’s profits? Why is the loss said to be after tax? If they traded at a loss how come taxes were due? Does this TD have a clue about what he is writing?
@Ben Gunn: probably not he is F/F they usually don’t know what they are saying.
@Ben Gunn: no its true Ben my dog got hit by a car my youngest fell from a wall and now my wife is pregnant again!! and its all Brexit fault!
Realistically they won’t move far from D4. Too many current staff they would have to keep. This means a decent amount spent on land somewhere in Dublin , or along a main road route like N11
Studios are bloody expensive to build so a decent amount will disappear there
The rest will go due to terrible management.
5 years later they’ll be in the same boat as now.
Turn around RTÉ by:
Selling off RTE2 TV and Radio 2. ( keep RTÉ 1 and Radio 1, TnaG and RnaG)
Include overpaid ‘celebrities’ with the channels being sold off. ( they are too expensive)
Reduce layers and numbers of remaining senior Management.
Reserve licence fee for the retained channels. ( they have to be free of advertising if they get public money)
The newly slimmed down RTÉ has to be made live within the level of the existing licence fee.
Give new broadcasting talent a break on the retained channels.
P.S. I don’t believe our elected politicians would have the b*lls to do it !
@GR: I agree. I can’t understand why the national broadcaster needs to compete with commercial channels. Local news, sport and homegrown drama and films should be featured on RTE. Put a cap of 60k on presenters salaries. Why do we neeed a classical music or a pop channel? Waste
@GR: I think including the “celebrities” might bring the price down.
When RTÉ is just a propaganda machine for the government and not one hard question asked to them since the 2008 crash people are turning off RTÉ in their droves
@dick dastardly: Not according to the viewing figures which are pretty static. People still have the television on but a look inside most homes shows the TV is in the background as people engage with their tablets and smart devices.
Personally have not had a tv in 12 years and use the internet for all of my viewing although I RTE news is something I treat like any other political medium taking what they say with a very big pinch of salt.With government the figures will always match the agenda of the day. If RTE is making a loss then they must have already decided to sell Montrose.
As said before I believe the nation is best served by #sellrte but cant see a single politician daring to move against the all seeing all powerful mandarins of Montrose that believe they are worth the shocking salaries they give to their chosen elite.
@dick dastardly: Explains all those with Sky…
The idea of having a TV licence is so flippin Pre historic at this stage.
@mcgoo: free to air is going the same way unfortunately
@mcgoo: Having a licence fee plus the channel having adverts seems a bit crazy as is RTE News being the voice of the government?
Any comment from RTE Trade Union Group
Incorporating SIPTU, NUJ, TEEU, Amicus/Unite, BATU & UCATT. I’m sure they’d be delighted to move to Mullingar or Killorglin. More populist sound bites from FF!
abolish the license fee and let them survive on their advertising revenue alone! Lets see what the “stars” are worth.
Not a mention of cutting the pay of all them it is a joke . They are all well over priced Nicky Byrne 2000g a year they are having a laugh an Darcy if they can get that kind of money else where off you go. The lady news reader is good to look at an speaks ever so posh but when she does interview she does not seem to free flow like Mr Dobson.
It amazes me how a TD from Sligo can know so much about how RTE operates, yet knows so little about his own constituency and hasn’t been seen in parts since the last general election.
@Chris Kirk: Hi Chris. Thank you for your comments. Don’t know where you live but your reference is uninformed inaccurate and unfair. Not to worry sticks and stones… I’ll keep doing my best. Thanks again for the engagement.
@Marc Macsharry: Mr Macsharry should we not learn from our previous mistakes? The last attempt to decentralize by Mc Greevy was an unmitigated disaster on all fronts with massive waste of funds on all fronts and nothing accomplished.
If RTE is to operate as a Television Radio station it needs to be where the population is – the most watched show on RTE the Late Late would have to helicopter guests to whatever part of the country you are thinking of having the studio in. The reality is the population is in Dublin and for the country to operate efficiently cities make sense. Decentralization of Government does not work as we have seen in the past.
Fair play for at least approaching the subject as it does need to be dealt with.
Do you not think it makes more sense to break RTE up and sell it off ? Why do we actually need a state owned Television station? Its been shown to mislead the public and has interfered in elections like the last presidential election – Surely the state should move to sell it now while it still has a value and focus on providing services that the population agree it should manage like healthcare, water etc
Direct funding can continue to the arts but surely value for money would be achieved by moving this company fully into the private sector and away from interfering with the nations democracy?
Cut the pay levels at the top. 500k for a presenter is obscene
Why pay RTÉ celebrities so much money particularly Marian Finucane,Joe Duffy and Nicky Byrne as Marian Finucane should be retired and replace with a younger person on half the money. Joe Duffy gives an opportunity for cranks to speak any person could do his job and Nicky Byrne could not sing so RTE gave him a slot and paid him ridiculous money and want the taxpayer of Ireland to pay an increased licence fee. I would have no problem putting the licence fee into our water system and let RTE pay their own way.
A new approach,is needed ,but RTE is so resistant to change ,or innovative thinking ,it is loosing its audience at an alarming rate and this will only increase as the younger generation turn to digital content for news and entertainment.
It will fail in time ,unless an all party group comes up with a new plan to make it more appealing to the Irish audience,moving it out of Dublin ,expensive ,to compensate workers for the move ,and a change of location won’t change the mindset of this conservative inward looking or the market forces it is up against
Nearly 2000 employees ! Moving them and building a new complex would cost a €1 billion at Irish prices. Selling Montrose would be a disaster. But 2.000 employees that must be the problem with costs.
Raising the licence fee will be the last straw. Hope they try it ☺️
It doesn’t fulfil any purpose it might have had as a public service broadcaster.
The only interest the public now has in it now, is to recoup the assets we have paid for, and to stop it haemorrhaging more funds, by way of bloated presenters or otherwise.
The end result is bankruptcy.
If Duffy Tubidy O’Callaghan wants to set up RTE Rural as a new self funded venture, best of luck to them, and they won’t need to publish their salaries
@DeFonz: they don’t publish their salaries as they are not employees. Their fees are paid to limited companies and they are using these to shelter their tax liabilities.
Test the waters by moving all GAA and rugby coverage to pay per view
@lavbeer: They are doing that already. Football quarter finals not live on RTE on Saturday … complete joke!
@lavbeer: what rugby coverage? they have lost the rights to the six nations and rugby world cups, they only get the odd pro12 match
@John Ryan: so I guess you wouldn’t like to see RTÉ go away as it’s the only free to air and think losing a couple of quarter finals is a joke?
How about Syria?
@Captain kirk: its terrible Joe the roads are in a bad way with all the fighting and bombing.
Don’t those poor people have enough to worry about without having to hid from the licence inspector
@Captain kirk: Syria Murphy or Syria Jones lol.
Flood Montrose with water, then FF headquarters
RTE reeling in the years of poor management and grossly overpaid pompous luvlies in little oul Eire and the license fees mugged annually from the poor downtrodden masses. But none the less an exact public service model of which the Dail excels worlwide.
Full of hubris and hot air brigadeers poor Dee Forbes paid less than some CEO elsewhere.What else could you expect from a station opened sorry inflicted in 1961 was it by DeValera after he shot all his former buddies and wanted the misery to continue long after he was gone.
Perhaps RTE should think about cutting some of the outrageous salaries of staff members.
Also think about giving its views some decent viewing material.
RTÉ is used by political parties for their purposes. We are at present in a hiatus- short six one news program-as the politicians are on holidays.
I think most are missing the point, the question is “Why is RTÉ losing money?”
1) People do not watch RTE much any more, the whole country is now ‘multi channel land’ (Sky/Virgin) and/or internet, so they no longer have a captive audience.
2) Children, certainly mine do not watch TV at all. The idea that you watch ‘what is on’ and flick though channels looking for a good program is an alien concept to them. They are of the internet age, Youtube and Netflix rule.
3) The advertising companies know points 1 and 2.
Everyone has been full of rage because house hold names and their fees have been released. But I wonder how much Dee Forbes is on. And her first act as new DG, was to go looking for more money from the public purse
Sell Montrose and move RTÉ lock stock and barrel to Ardmore studios.
@Tom Harpur: It baffles me why they don’t operate RTE out of one high rise building instead of having enough land to open an airport.
TRAVELLING EXPENSES for RTE staff comes to mind if they shift them from Donnybrook on top of their OTT salaries ?. Like the politicians they would end up milking the system on that one.
@C_O’S: such travelling expenses would be taxable in the hands of the recipient. That won’t happen. Place of employment would be the new base. Travel expenses not allowed to and from place of employment (of course providing you’re not a politician).
They could save a fortune by not standing outside government buildings in the rain every time they have to cover a story there.
Decentralization is a stupid and expensive idea, supported by people who fail to grasp the point of a capital city.
FF brought it in to help their then Ministers have an easier life, but it fell flat on its are and was a collosal waste of money.
All these wonderful protests about a broadcaster that does a reasonably good job without any idea what is the alternative. Sounds like the Brexit crowd.
@Gerald Kelleher: No alternative required, we live in the information age where state broadcasts can be streamed online. Like many others I barely watch TV at all anymore, let alone RTE.
And move D’arcy to the UK he is worth it and they deserve him…
Everytime I hear the add ” there are a lot better things to do with €1000″ I can’t help thinking there are also a lot better things to do with €160 also
@David Grey: Careful now. Pay your mandatory propaganda tax or perhaps Tusla may be paying you a visit.
Hahahah this article is comical, i had to check the date, no its not april 1st.
It would be easier to move all of the pyrimids from egypt.
Its makes a lot of sense, but cmon, leave D4…… social scene suicide.
@lavbeer: it’s not free to air, tv license funds it
A very interesting suggestion. And has a lot of merits to it. Perhaps a suitable location would be Athlone. It’s central to most parts of Ireland, and within easy access of the motorway network and not overly distant from Dublin Airport. Although the biggest issue facing RTE is it’s irrelevance to anybody under the age of 20. The stark reality is that this market simply doesn’t watch ANY content from it. The end of RTE as we know it is rapidly approaching, neither a licence fee hike or a relocation can stop it.
@Mark Dunne: The reality is that the BBC did it 5 years ago. The massive Television Center, in it’s prime London location is now apartment blocks. They moved the bulk of the operation to Manchester.
@Towger: Manchester is hardly a quiet country town though. It’s served by airports, trains and has a large metropolitan area full of potential employees.
Well maybe move it to Wicklow ,Kildare or Meath but any further away from the capital would be crazy
@David Grey: Cavan is looking for inward investment….
Only 200 mill for the remainder of the land?? Sure that’ll be gone in no time. If it saves me and the rest of the country funding this dead duck to broadcast pure $h1te then I’m all for it.
DONT WATCH IT?
DONT LISTEN?
SHOULDNT PAY
Close it down, utterly and completely. We will manage very well without it. Then let the market find a competitive replacement.
Move it all right! Sell it off and let the luvvies in RTE feel the cold wind of reality employment.
Don’t forget TG 4 another propped up disaster, to big and running at a permanent loss. Surely it could be facilitated under the same roof as RTE 1 and 2, not necessary to have it in the West as have the programs come from Dublin. Accountability is the key to well run establishments. Further point of issue is the salary difference Male to Female parity, Male salaries should be brought down to Women’s and not the other way around.
Where is “rural Ireland”?
@Cat Agatha: outside the extended pale. Rural Ireland will eventually be given special status by the EC to counter the d4 movements
The more one read’s the article the more I think Mr MacSharry’s argument makes sense. After all the BBC sold up their West London base and moved to Manchester with no discernable difference in output or content. TV3 does just fine in Ballymount. RTE needs to think outside the “box” in more ways than one.
Perfect plan. Gets rte a purpose built new premises. Gets rid of their debt and reduce the licence fee. Sell land for housing and mixed development to help with housing shortage. Location could be still in Dublin but out near the m50!
I have an idea mark!
How about fianna Fail and RTE both fu€k off!
Nah. Don’t move it.
SHUT IT DOWN!
Is there any TV station as bad as RTE, when there is a holiday about the news time is cut in half like it is now and every weekend the News from RTE at 1pm or so, is like something done by children who’s parents are still in bed until 4pm and they wanted people to pay double the Licence Fee, are they mad?
Yeah sell of their prized land, move operations to ballynowhere will last a year or 2, it’s the bloated executive staff that needs to go
Why not move it all to Galway?? Reinvest all into RTE
How about moving it to outer mongolia and all those overpayed muppets along with it
@Author; you’ve come up with better comedy than RTE ever managed anyway. 20 hours after throwing your grenade you haven’t bothered to reply to a single comment. You wouldn’t happen to have some Healy-Rae DNA in you by any chance?
Close it down i havent watched rte in years and have no wish to absolute rubbish , the sooner its gone the better . Extortion is all RTE is pay us tv license money our we fine you more money .
Good luck with that but the bus station and eye should be in Wickla as the start and end of Dublin
have your say