A new deal to fund RTÉ – worth up to €725 million over three years – is expected to be agreed at today’s final Cabinet meeting before the summer break.
The funding will comprise licence fee income and direct State funding.
It is understood the broadcaster sought €255 million in State funding for next year; €260 million for 2026 and €265 million for 2027, a total of €780 million. The agreed package will be less than that.
Minister for Media and Arts Catherine Martin will outline the details of the long-awaited package today.
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It is expected that the television licence fee will be retained but the Government will commit to multiyear Exchequer funding to RTÉ under a deal hammered out between Ms Martin and other Ministers in recent weeks.
It represents a compromise between the two sides, with Ms Martin failing in her bid to have the television licence fee abolished but succeeding in securing multiyear Exchequer funding for the station.
It is also expected An Post will get €6 million in Exchequer funding over three years in order to improve licence collection.
Sources with knowledge of the discussions, however, questioned how much extra funding would be actually delivered, and suggested that at least some of the money would come from within the budget of the Department of Arts and Media – meaning that other interests could suffer. It is also not clear how the Government can guarantee RTÉ funding beyond its term in office.
Elsewhere, Ministers will work through a lengthy agenda when they meet at Government Buildings before the Cabinet breaks until late August.
They are expected to approve a new Defamation Bill, which long has been long-sought after by the media. Newspapers and other media outlets have argued that Ireland’s libel laws are a threat to media freedom. The new Bill is expected to abolish the use of juries for defamation actions in the High Court, as well as strengthening some defences in libel actions.
Meanwhile, Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin is expected to recommend that the Defence Forces’ Cathal Brugha barracks in Rathmines, Dublin, not be relocated to allow for a potential housing development. He will brief Cabinet on feasibility studies on relocation carried out in the wake of Government departments being asked to examine their land portfolio to assess if there were suitable sites available for housing.
A Department of Defence-commissioned study estimated that the cost of relocating to a new barracks on a greenfield site would be in the region of €497 million, while a separate Land Development Agency study indicated that approximately 1,300 homes could be developed on the site at an estimated cost of €499 million. It is understood that the almost €1 billion combined costs of relocation and redevelopment as well as military advice will be cited by Mr Martin in recommending against the relocation.
Separately, Minister for Finance Jack Chambers is expected to seek Cabinet approval for the publication of legislation aimed at ensuring people have ways of accessing cash in their locality.
The legislation empowers the Minister to set out that a specified percentage of the population must be within a certain distance of an ATM or cash service point in a bank or post office. It also ensures that there is a specified number of ATMs per 100,000 people, and places an obligation initially on the three main retail banks to ensure there is sufficient access to cash.
Minister for Tourism and Sport Catherine Martin is also expected to brief colleagues on the Major International Sports Events Policy and Strategy Framework, which was developed with Minister of State for Sport Thomas Byrne, and contains a new strategy on hosting major sporting events.
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