RTÉ suffers further drop in TV licence fee revenues of almost €1m in wake of Tubridy scandal
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RTÉ has suffered another sharp drop in licence fee revenue of almost €1m as fewer people pay the fee in the wake of the payments scandal at the national broadcaster.
The Department of Media confirmed TV licence sales for the first week in August were 9,361 — in comparison to 15,030 in the same period last year.
This amounts to a loss of €907,040 in revenue for RTÉ, which has a sharp fall in revenue since the controversy unfolded.
The broadcaster has been under pressure to restore public confidence following a €2.7m drop-off in licence fee sales last month alone.
Figures provided by the Department of Media show that 17,297 fewer TV licences were bought last month, which equates to a €2.7m revenue loss.
Members of the Oireachtas public accounts committee (PAC) have called on the national broadcaster to publish all reports relating to the Ryan Tubridy payments scandal and immediately set up a register of interests to ensure full transparency.
PAC and the Oireachtas media committee are awaiting more information from RTÉ, but director general Kevin Bakhurst wrote to PAC to say the broadcaster won’t have all the documentation requested by the committee ready until around September 15.
A Grant Thornton interim report examining payments to Mr Tubridy between 2017-2019 also has yet to be published.
In a message sent to staff on Wednesday, seen by the , Mr Bakhurst said RTÉ has committed to supporting the various external reports commissioned by the Department of Media.
He said that, as they await publication of the second part of the second Grant Thornton report, he wanted to clarify where the station is on some of the other reports RTÉ has committed to.
“Work will commence on the report into , commissioned from Grant Thornton by the RTÉ Board, once the second part of the second Grant Thornton report has been completed,” the message read.
He said RTÉ is also “actively engaging” with outside firms who have the capability to carry out an external review of RTÉ’s voluntary exit schemes between 2017-2021.
He said work is beginning on the construction of two staff surveys due to be issued to workers next month to get their views on restoring the broadcaster’s “reputation and winning back the trust of our audiences".
He also told staff that there has been a briefing on preparations to establish the new register.
“These are at an advanced stage, and establishment of the register is expected later in the autumn.
“Regarding publication of the register, RTÉ is engaging with stakeholders, including the data protection officer, as part of the preparations,” he added.