Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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174. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when his Department was first made aware of a statement in February 2024 by the Director General of RTÉ that RTÉ would “be bankrupt overnight” if it were to compensate workers for bogus self-employment; if this potential for bankruptcy was discussed between the Director General and his Department prior to these public statements; if his Department is aware of how many workers are estimated to have been incorrectly classified and the amount in euros of compensation that would be involved; if the need to compensate workers for bogus self-employment was factored into the multi-annual combined-model funding framework announced for the broadcaster later in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5204/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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My Department first became aware of comments, made by the Director General of RTÉ in the context of a “Town Hall” meeting with RTÉ staff, through media reports in the national press on 15 January 2025. The matter was not formally raised with my Department.

The Department of Social Protection is continuing a Scope investigation into the PRSI insurability of a group of contractors at RTÉ. At a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media on 12 June 2024, RTÉ advised the committee that the number of contractors who were under investigation totaled 688, and that at the time a provision of €21.3 million had been provided for in the broadcaster’s financial statements for costs arising from those Scope investigations.

As with other HR matters at RTÉ, neither I nor my Department have any involvement in the process. No specific allocation was made within the public funding provided to RTÉ in this regard, and it is a matter for RTÉ to manage all of its potential costs and liabilities within its overall budgeted resources, both from public funding and its commercial income.