Dee Forbes banging the RTE TV licence drum again 60m uncollected fee *poll not working - pl ignore*

It's a shameful disgrace to RTE, the government, the licence paying public, sponsors and advertisers that Forbes has not made herself available to answer questions. Disgraceful brass necked conduct.

They will prosecute a bunch more few people.. publicise it. That's how they will improve compliance.

Nobody will be able to avoid the charge, unless u are off grid.

Yet they let the real crooks off with racking up huge debts, often in very suspicious ways, and then walking away scot free with big severance packages.

The little person always pays, those at the top rarely are caught and prosecuted.

Everyone should just start refusing to pay the TV licence now.

A complete unpayment from the public would clog up any court, who would all have to decide that they were not will to take these cases.

And if you do end up in court

"M'Lord / M'Lady some people in this country get suspended sentences for much more, perhaps you might want to provide better justice."

On Forbesy - You'd really need to ba a very, very special sort of a ***t to -

• Know that you were incapable of doing the job
• Put yourself forward for, and blag your way into said job
• Be appointed to the position and prove to yourself that you were indeed sh!t at the job (as you knew would be the case when you applied)
• Waste vast quantities of public monies, whilst allowing appallingly bad quality staff/management/presenters stay in their respective positions
• Allow (with seemingly no control) one external party to dictate who presents what show and how much their fees will be, and in fact, allow that external party increase their control over the organisation you presided over in your tenure
• Refuse to appear in front of Govt committees when asked
• Decide that when your 5 year tenure ends (when the whole country knows you're sh!t) you'll avail of the (dumb-assed) ability to extend your tenure for another 2 years…just to milk it that little bit more
• When the sh!t eventually hits the fan, feign illness and run off and hide like a missive wimp

Yep, that's one really, really special ***t alright

Five year plan coming up today. No harm in being optimistic I guess.

She got her extra 2 years as DG.

She was there intially from 2016 until 2021, and it was renew for 2 years until 2023.

Minister Martin has been in situ since 2020, and would have appointed her to the role for the extra 2 years.

From wiki -

"The director general both reports to the board and sits on it "in an ex officio capacity".[4] At this time, the director general serves a term of five years (reduced from seven years), at the expiry of which he/she may ask for an extension.[5]"

She asked for a two year extension and it was granted - There's a pair of them in it

I couldn't be arsed with the pedantry Ro - Forbes is one of the greatest confidence tricksters Ireland has known and should be in the Dóchas Centre

Has the workforce been reduced at all in the 9 months?

Emma O'Kelly hardly does anything. Her position is surely up for redundancy.

Another farce plan today. No action. The government will continue to bail out RTE.

Load of crud….. no mention of paying mediocre presenters huge wedges for NO REASON.

Of course I realise that is not the major problem, but it’s where the rubber hits the road for the consumer.

That’s where any sensible DG would start.

From the press release "Implementing the strategy over the next five years is contingent on a resolution of the funding of public service media by Government, expected to be confirmed in 2024."

No that "Implementing the strategy over the next five years is to move RTÉ passed the the problems that faced the organisation over the last number of years. RTÉ hope for the support of the government in helping to change the funding of public service media over the next number of years, but we will aim to make RTÉ a better organisation regardless of funding."

Last time I heard him was about a month ago.

Must be no ‘climate conferences’ anywhere around the world these days.

And I read the first page which states : -

Introduction

Paragraph 1: RTÉ aims to do what would normal be done by the organisation over the next five years and also clear changes required inside RTÉ.
Paragraph 2: A dual focus - Relevant and engaging content for audiences of all kinds and development of streaming and on-demand.
Paragraph 3: Proper funding is required to make this plan work, something which is in the hands of the government. They want to go From main Broadcaster to main Streamer.
Paragraph 4: Organisational will be streamlined and improved with new ways of working internally and with partners externally. Higher quality content and more impactful. Unique Irish stories, national moments and shared experiences.
Paragraph 5: Building on the progress made on Goverance and improving communication in the organisation. Continutity of what is working e.g. increase leader ship on ESG issues through goals and initativews. Leadership in examining and contributing to policy debate and legislation especial on prominence codes, net neutrality and AI.

2024 Laying out the changes

The focus has been on laying foundations for change and the delivery of this strategy, adding to the activities achieved. Over 24 will show early progress on: -

1. Launching a verification mark to aid audiences navigate mis/dis information
2. close 4 digital radio stations for the new audio app and content strategy
3. Sign-in for RTÉ player, to improve audience personalised features
4. Finalising commissioning roadmap for broader portfolio of genres and programmes from 25
5. Engaging with CnaM as they consider minimum statutory spend as recommended by the FOMC
6. Participate in the Comprehensive review of the provision of Irish language services in line with the FOMC's recommendations
7. Appointing people to critical roles, including Directors of Audio and Video
8. Reviewing staffing and developing new production models for video and audio.
9. A new restructured commercial team to strengthen ad sales
10. 40 people to exit
11. Highlight what we need to modernize RTÉ physical infrastructure
12. Publish a new governance framework based on reports of recent months.

Those items in bold really aren't up to RTÉ.

I'd hope this would have always been the case.

A lot of the other stuff is what most organisation are doing so I suspect that RTÉ would have done them anyway, much of this should be cost neutral TBH.

Page 5: Sorry my page numbers were off (lots of glossiness)

Goals and Initiatives

Goal 1: Engage with Audiences with high-quality impactful content
a. Video content strategy addressing audiences streaming preferences
b. Audio strategy
c. Enhancing Digital news and CA
d. Expanding Live cultural and public events coverage

Goal 2: Provide excellent streaming products and services
a. quality products providing personalised experiences
b. RTÉ Player as a destination like that of Netflix
c. New ways to listen to RTÉ Audio and via the News app
d. More access to archive

Goal 3: Diversify production and support sectoral development across Ireland
a. Increase commissioning, diversity of content and origin
b. new Cork based production facility
c. De-centralisation from Dublin (re-balance)

Goal 4: Ensure robust financial management
a. transparent reporting
b. control and reduce operating costs/ drive efficacies
c. commercial success based on digital revenues
d. capital plan for Montrose

Goal 5: Build a sustainable, trusted and responsible organisation
a. Re-skill, smaller and agile workforce
b. positive work environment
c. DIE policies
d. best in class governance framework.

IMO this is mainly business babble that you've read every year from the organisations you probably work in. It's all about marketing little to do with content.