Fair City & Late Late future latest as 95 RTE jobs axed amid Traitors revelation as Bakhurst reveals Tubridy meet detail

The RTE boss said he expects the National Lottery to still pay the station to air the Lotto draws, but he does not want the broadcaster to foot the bill for its production
KEVIN Bakhurst has told a Dail watchdog he plans to outsource RTE’s flagship programme, The Late Late Show, and chop more jobs.

The RTE Director General also revealed mega hit Traitors was not a big money-spinner — and he opened the door for Ryan Tubridy to return.

Bakhurst also said he will not be applying to take over the top job at the BBC as he claimed: “Marty Morrissey won’t let me leave.”

RTE’s new-look leadership team were before the Dail’s Media ­Committee today to be grilled on what progress has been made in their money-saving plan after the State’s €725million bailout last year.

A series of financial scandals under other RTE execs led to tens of thousands of people refusing to pay their TV licence fees — leaving the national broadcaster on the brink of going broke.

These financial scandals resulted in the number of licence fees paid dropping from more than 900,000 in 2022 to 711,000 this year.

The Government has stepped in to provide financial certainty with a commitment from RTE’s Bakhurst that he would dramatically slash costs — including reducing their staff by 400 workers.

The Dail watchdog today heard that 95 jobs have been trimmed from RTE over the past year, made up of 65 redundancies and 30 resignations.

The savings from those job losses amount to €10.6million a year with Bakhurst promising to go even further next year by cutting more jobs.

He told the Dail Committee that RTE will now largely focus on radio, sport, news and current affairs and will stop producing big shows — such as The Late Late and Fair City — in house.

Instead, these popular programmes — along with the Lotto draw broadcasts — will now be made by independent producers who get paid by RTE, thus giving the station the opportunity to cut more jobs.

RTE have already dropped their documentary unit with all those shows now to be produced by independent providers.

Asked what will be next on the block to be moved out of RTE, Mr Bakhurst said: “What is next? We’ve already talked about Fair City and The Late Late Show publicly and we’re doing feasibility on those.

“There are a few smaller things as well. I can share one of them — the Lotto will be going out because that costs us a lot of money and there is a better way to do it.

“It also enables us to let a few more people leave who we couldn’t let leave this year.”

RTE will be going to the market next spring seeking an independent producer to start making Fair City.

This will see the popular drama’s famous Carrigstown set moved out of RTE’s Donnybrook HQ as the show takes a new turn with independent producers.

Mr Bakhurst said: “There is a number of reasons why we need to move it out.

“One of them is we need to reduce our presence on Donnybrook in the long run and we won’t be able to make Fair City in Donnybrook in the long run.”

Up to eight independent firms have already been in touch with RTE about taking on production of Fair City — which looks set for big changes next year.

LOTTO TALK

However, the RTE boss said he has no plans to cut Fair City or even take a break from the popular drama during next year’s World Cup coverage.

Mr Bakhurst said he expects the National Lottery to still pay RTE to air the Lotto draws, but he does not want the broadcaster to foot the bill for its production.

He claimed the Lotto could pay an independent firm to do that.

After more than 300 people applied for redundancies this year, RTE will open a second round of voluntary exit packages next year.

However, the broadcaster boss opened the door for one popular presenter to return to the station as he revealed he recently met with former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy — to clear the air.

Tubs — who married Clare Kambamettu at the weekend — left RTE in controversy after it emerged he received secret wage top-ups, which led to him repaying the broadcaster €150,000 earlier this year.

Today, Fianna Fail TD Peter Chap Cleere asked Mr Bakhurst if he was invited to Ryan’s wedding.

‘I WASN’T INVITED’

He said: “I gather it was a small wedding for family and close friends. On Ryan, I have met him because the whole episode was more than unfortunate — it was disastrous for RTE. I did want to meet him to say that there were no hard feelings on the part of RTE and that if the right thing came up, there is no impediment for us working together again in the future.

“It was very cordial and we have vaguely remained in touch. But I wasn’t invited to the wedding.”

The DG also revealed RTE are in negotiations about a second season of The Traitors Ireland show.

However, he said the smash wasn’t a big money-spinner for the broadcaster and only “washed its own face”.

‘WASHED ITS FACE’

He said: “We signed up for a year to see how it went. It did cost a lot of money but it also raised a lot commercially and Gavin Deans and his team did fantastic in terms of selling sponsorship and product placement and advertising around it.

“It probably about washed its face I would say.”

The RTE boss was also asked by several TDs about reports linking him with the vacant role of the BBC Director General in the UK.

Although he previously worked at the BBC, Mr Bakhurst told the Dail Committee he’s not applied for the job and plans to stay on at RTE.

He said: “I don’t think I can leave because Marty Morrissey has told me I’m not allowed to.”