RTÉ is to get a €56 million bailout from the Exchequer.

The Taoiseach confirmed this afternoon that Cabinet has approved interim funding for the State broadcaster.

He noted that the funding would be reliant on certain reforms at the broadcaster.

The funding is expected to include €16m in funding for this year and €40m next year.

The Arts and Media Minister Catherine Martin is due to make a statement this afternoon outlining the full details of the package.

New RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst at the broadcaster's headquarters in Donnybrook, 10-07-2023. Image: PA Images / Alamy

It comes as the broadcaster prepares to publish its ‘strategic vision’ later this afternoon.

The plan aims to cut around 400 jobs at the broadcaster through a voluntary redundancy scheme.

Representatives from RTE’s Trade Union Group are currently meeting with RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst about the plan.

Earlier, the National Union of Journalists warned that the fact staff learned about the plan through “leaks in the media” yesterday was a further blow in an organisation where morale is at an all-time low.

The union’s Irish Secretary Seamus Dooley said the leak was 'disrespectful' and 'a breach of trust'.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at the Housing for All Quarterly update where he confirmed the RTÉ bailout this afternoon, 14-11-2023. Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

Speaking on the way into the meeting, the chair of the NUJ Dublin Broadcasting Branch Emma O’Kelly said staff have huge concerns about what they’ve been hearing.

“Before this, we had a kind of an eery silence around this in RTÉ – the kind of silence you get in Jaws where you know the shark is under the boat,” she said.

“Today we have had a glimpse of the shark or we are getting a glimpse.

“That is the feeling. There is a lot of fear, there is a lot of anxiety. I spoke last week to people in one department who were really concerned, saying, ‘Is our department going to be privatised? Is this the end of us?’”

The RTÉ logo at the station in Donnybrook, 26-06-2023. Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

In addition to the job cuts, the document includes plans to reduce in-house productions and sharply increase spending on independent productions.

The plan would also see part of the broadcaster’s Donnybrook campus sold off and a number of RTÉ services cut.

That sale will see some production moving from Dublin to Cork – before expanding into Limerick and Galway in the future.

The plan also promises to significantly reduce the number of staff that are paid salaries of more than €100,000.

All RTE staff will be briefed about the plan at around 3pm this afternoon.