Dee Forbes banging the RTE TV licence drum again 60m uncollected fee *poll not working - pl ignore*

Is there now a proper financial control and recording system in RTE?

Has there been any attempt to enforce accountability for the for the funding and other failings in running the organisation?

What efforts have been taken to downsize?

in my humble opinion the answers to that would be…

no,

no,

and none..

Says quite a bit that both Evanne Ni Chuillinn and Mary Regan have both left RTE, rather abruptly.

Feels like the cracks in the system are ever widening.

So, once they've spunked 50 MILLION euro on this, how long before they start rehiring I wonder? 🙄

Oh I see that too. But what I mean is, we all heard of the broken editing equipment in the newsroom, the lack of remote controls for tv's, the once respected RTE newsroom and news reporters being completely hung out to dry due to funds going to the likes of Tubridy or the Toy Show Musical.

I doubt new equipment has been bought to replace the broken stuff. And seeing Mary Regan, Evanne Ni Chuillinn, and Will Goodbody leave in a very space of time and so close together tells me the chance of a resolution to RTE's mistreatment of hard working news staff (and the news journalists and reporters used to be RTE's saving grace, until Dee) tells me there are more issues that are not being reported.

Oh I know it's just circumstantial, but so many leaving so close together was quite intriguing.

https://www.rsvplive.ie/news/celebs/evanne-n-chuilinn-always-knew-34958925

She acknowledged that RTE had strict rules about maintaining impartiality and so she wouldn’t have joined a political party while working there.

She was obviously told in advance that she would get the nomination, and yet she present her last news bulletin on the day of her nomination.

https://evoke.ie/2025/02/09/entertainment/rte-evanne-ni-chuilinn-politics

Sources yesterday said Ms Ní Chuilinn - who presented the sports segment on RTÉ's Six One News on Wednesday evening - had not told anyone as her imminent appointment was kept under wraps.

The article does say that the resignation was on Friday with immediate effect, though which Friday I am not sure.

RTE are a shambles, yet another story where they don't/won't report the full facts. And why?

Ten arrested in large-scale garda operation in Cork

Gardaí seized an imitation firearm along with €4,500 in cash, approximately €4,000 in cocaine, over €7,200 in Alzaprolam tablets, a small quantity of cannabis herb, a number of Rolex watches, a range of power tools and a new caravan over the course of the operation.

🤔

Look at the difference and detail in reporting compared to RTE.

https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41603956.html

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-41603866.html

RTE don't deserve a licence fee.

Will it be all chiefs and no Indians?

Minister Patrick O'Donovan, I think it's fair to say, is not a fan of Radio Telifis Eireann…..

No need for a levy on streaming services to fund Public Service Media - they get enough between licence fee and the near 3 quarters of a billion Euro in extra funding, says he…………..

Netflix levy plan set to be blocked as viewers are already ‘paying enough’ – The Irish Times

Mr O’Donovan said: “People as I say are paying enough” and he also outlined how the taxpayer will be funding RTÉ directly to the tune of €725 million, as he put it “to keep the doors open”.

The taxpayer funding is part of measures aimed at supporting cash-strapped RTÉ in return for reforms at the national broadcaster.

Mr O’Donovan said people are being asked to pay the €160 TV licence fee and those who can afford to do so are also paying for streaming services.

“I don’t see why I would impose a levy on top of those people,” he said.

He also told RTE:

"People are paying enough" for entertainment, he said, adding that people who can afford to pay for streaming services "are doing so by choice".

"I don't see why I would impose a levy on top of those people, considering that it would, I believe, inevitably wind up being raised and raised substantially".

He's right on this. The regulator, Comisiun na Mean, is building a nice big fancy empire and won't be able to resist the temptation of a shakedown or two in a few years time. And consumers will pay.

The days of former minister, Cathy Martin, spraying money about the place seem to be at an end.

There is a levy on Netflix. It's called VAT. We pay it on our sky/virgin subscriptions as well, but not on our TV licence. So in a large way RTE already gets subsidised by the taxpayers

VAT doesn't directly go to public service broadcasting. The levy would be used for content. But huge question over what type of content that it would be used to fund.

Should it be used to fund The Arts Council, The National Concert Hall, Screen Ireland and so on?

The flip side to that is that you wouldn't have any local content, that's not to say that the industry isn't guilt of greed and not knowing its market.

Easier for most to buy in content, resulting in nothing to do well. Look at Virgin Media TV it never progress beyond being a local ITV station in Ireland.

So the retirements begin,

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2025/0410/1506874-cathy-halloran/

I don't want to be mean to Cathy or anyone personally in RTÉ but …

Her late father Danno Halloran was also News Editor in RTÉ from the mid-1960s to the 1980s.

Nepotism within RTÉ and that is not to say that Cathy was not good at her job in her own right but this is an issue that boards has brought up with about RTÉ time and time again.

Any other Hallorans at RTÉ?