Donohoe says TV licence will continue as revenue drops by €900,000
James Cox
The Minister for Public Expenditure has said there is no future for RTÉ without the TV licence.
The first week of this month saw a €900,000 drop in revenue for licences following the recent pay scandal surrounding the national broadcaster.
A second review by Grant Thornton has been sent to the RTÉ board, and will be made public in due course.
Paschal Donohoe said while he understands people's concerns, it is likely the licence fee will remain in place.
"Public service broadcasting, journalism, has real value that is paid for by the taxpayer.
"Television licence is a massive source of funding and income to RTÉ. I think at different points it has been half of the overall revenue that they have, and I can't conceive of a future for RTÉ that doesn't have a television licence."
Mr Donohoe added: "Ultimately, if the taxpayer has to respond back to this in any way... the taxpayer and the TV licence payer in many cases are the same person. One way or the other at the end of this, we do need an RTÉ.
"We do need support for public service broadcasting, but there are many actions that RTÉ are due to take in the time ahead that will be really important."
Meanwhile, the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee has been informed by parliamentary legal teams that they are “in a strong position” if they choose to compel witnesses.
Paul McAuliffe, who is a member of the PAC, told Newstalk radio that he anticipates the committee will receive a copy of the second Grant Thornton report which has been delivered to RTÉ.
The second report deals with the period in RTÉ before the ‘tripartite’ agreement with broadcaster Ryan Tubridy.
The public service broadcaster has been the subject of controversy since announcing that it had under-declared Mr Tubridy’s earnings by €345,000 from the years 2017 to 2022.
Mr McAuliffe said that the PAC will now have the opportunity to look into the “consistency” of the evidence that had been presented to the committee by RTÉ staff.