Wicklow TD Says Local Radio Is “Totally Underfunded” With Independent Sector Share Dwarfed By RTÉ

Fine Gael TD Brian Brennan challenged RTÉ this week on the apparent disparities in funding in media broadcasting

East Coast FM and every other independent station in the country are sharing less public money than RTÉ spends on 2FM alone.

That’s the claim from Wicklow-Wexford Fine Gael TD Brian Brennan, who took RTÉ to task at the Oireachtas Arts and Media Committee this week.

He says 2FM recieved €4.4 million in 2024, while all of Ireland’s independent stations, East Coast FM included, got €3.5 million between them last year.

Brennan says the numbers don’t add up when you look at who is listening. 2FM has a 7% share of the audience. Independent radio has 71%.

He told RTÉ officials it should be about results, and asked whether the taxpayer is getting value for money from 2FM. His own answer was “I certainly don’t.”

He then asked whether stations like Newstalk, Today FM, South East Radio and East Coast Radio, put together, get less than 2FM does.

RTÉ argued the €4.4 million should be set against 2FM’s commercial income, but couldn’t give the exact figure, saying only that it was roughly the same as the spending. RTÉ Director General Kevin Backhurst told the committee it’s “not a subsidy, it’s a cost.”

Brennan asked whether that means 2FM can stand alone without a subsidy.

RTÉ’s Patricia Monaghan defended the station, saying it plays a key role in RTÉ’s public service remit by reaching 15 to 34 year olds.

She said the 7% figure is its share of the whole adult audience, and that among 15 to 34s 2FM is the second biggest station nationally, at around 9%.

Brennan wasn’t swayed. He says there are two very clear things here: the independent sector is “totally underfunded”, and it’s down to results.

For a local station like East Coast FM, which keeps Wicklow tuned in to its own news, sport and community notices, he says the current funding gap is simply “wrong.”