Cabinet to be updated on RTÉ's programme of reform 'within the next couple of weeks'

The acting Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport has said he needs to ensure that RTÉ's “programme of reform is going apace and that everything that was committed to is being carried out in full” before a decision on releasing the €20m in funding withheld by his predecessor.

The statement was made as Mullingar hosted a meeting on European tourism policy today. Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke welcomes tourism ministers, senior officials and industry representatives from across the European Union for a major gathering under Ireland's EU Presidency.

Minister Burke made the RTÉ comment as he temporarily assumed the portfolio of Minister Patrick O'Donovan earlier this week while his colleague recovers from illness. The move saw the enterprise minister take charge of the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport alongside his existing role.

Speaking at an informal tourism ministers summit at Bloomfield House Hotel in Mullingar, Minister Burke said: “The first critical thing we need to do is to come forward and update the cabinet with the programme of reform that RTÉ has embarked upon, how it is progressing, ultimately those many targets brought forward by the national broadcaster and we need to ensure that those targets are met, that we are getting those efficiencies, that we are ensuring that money is spent appropriately and that would be my first job to ensure that we can brief our cabinet colleagues in that regard and engage with government leaders.”

Minister Burke said he intends to present details of that assessment shortly: “I'd hope to bring forward a memorandum within the next couple of weeks because I am aware obviously we want to resolve this issue quickly, but equally we need to ensure that reform is taking place and that's most important for the taxpayer and indeed for the state broadcaster because we need to ensure that all those targets that were committed to and were agreed upon by everyone and indeed that went through government and were approved by the government are adhered to.”

Minister Burke said although he had not followed “in detail” the testimony at yesterday's heated Oireachtas Media Committee exchange because of the tourism summit, he was aware of its fractious nature: “My view is that we want to have calm heads here, de-escalate which is important, that we work through the reforms.

“That's one key thing that I will be prioritising, that we have to demonstrate quite clearly to the Cabinet that the huge amount of reform that was promised, that was agreed upon, has taken place or is taking place and that essentially all the different milestones are being met and that will be very important in relation to funding.”

The minister confirmed that both of his predecessor's advisors will be remaining on in the department: “I'll be working very closely with them over the coming weeks,” he said.