“I’ll be paying my TV license” says Calleary

MAYO TD Dara Calleary has insisted that the TV license should be kept amid ongoing turmoil at RTÉ.

The state broadcaster was plunged into controversy since the emergence of undisclosed payments from RTÉ to Ryan Tubridy.

It has since emerged that the state broadcaster had spent €1.6 million on gifts and entertainment for clients using so-called ‘barter accounts’ over the last ten years.

However, Minister Calleary has said that he will be paying his TV license going forward and said others should do the same.

Today (Friday) it emerged that RTÉ has received over €96 million in funding from the license fee so far this year, approximately €100 million short of the €196.2 million collected in 2022.

Speaking to Mayo Live this afternoon (Friday), Minister Calleary said the TV license fee should not be abolished ‘because of the profligacy of a few’.

“It think the TV license should be paid because it pays for more than just RTÉ. But even within RTÉ it pays for the workers that we don’t hear from. It pays for the workers who are on very small salaries who do work hard to bring us good television,” Minister Calleary said.

The Fianna Fáil TD said that the definition of ‘public service broadcasting’ also needed to be expanded.

“It’s a far greater concept than what it was when it was legislated for. It includes local radio now, it includes online broadcasting, podcasting and the media commission have made recommendations around the future of local journalism. They need to be supported as well, particularly in a time of online disinformation,” said Minister Calleary.

“I’ll be paying my TV license to support public service broadcasting and I think RTÉ needs to make serious changes, it’s very clear. We’ll get an indication of those changes next week.”

Minister Calleary did not specify what changes he wanted to see at the state broadcaster when asked by Mayo Live.

“Well look, I want to see what [incoming RTÉ Director-General] Kevin Bakhurst comes up with first. I think obviously focus on stronger corporate governance, focus on respect for their staff, for the majority of their staff,” he replied.

“We’re two weeks into this, there is staff that haven’t heard from management yet. For such an existential crisis to hit a company and staff haven’t heard from management two weeks into it? That doesn’t speak well.”

Minister Calleary would not be drawn on whether sections of RTÉ, such as 2FM radio station and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, should be sold or disbanded as part of any potential reforms.

“We’ll see about the detail of it. It’s not the case of getting rid of it, it’s the case of doing things properly, doing things respectively, doing things with standards in place and looking at everything they do and how does that align to a public service broadcaster.”

Read more of Mayo Lives’s interview with Minister of State, Dara Calleary TD, in Tuesday’s Mayo News.