Oireachtas Committee to hear ‘RTE has been starved of funding for decades’ [Video]

RTÉ is being “held to ransom” over Government funding and the crisis being used to drive privatisation, union representative Emma O’Kelly, will warn an Oireachtas Committee today, writes Aisling Moloney.

The Oireachtas Media Committee will hear today from unions at RTÉ, where 400 jobs are set to be cut as part of reform measures following a string of controversies that have driven a €25m fall off in TV licence fee revenue.

It will be the first time that the committee will hear from union representatives.

Ms O’Kelly is the chair of the National Union of Journalists Dublin Broadcasting branch and will represent “the sense of the anger and frustration” of NUJ members.

In her opening statement to the committee, seen by BusinessPlus.ie, she warns RTÉ “has been starved of necessary funding for decades by successive governments” and will reiterate that the licence fee funding model is “no longer fit for purpose”.

She will tell politicians that staff who are …