After RTÉ management informed workers this week of plans to wind down the broadcaster’s television documentary unit imminently, an already febrile atmosphere in Montrose has darkened substantially. Journalists were told on Wednesday that, due in part to the impact of RTÉ’s flagship voluntary exit strategy on the documentary unit, some staff would be redeployed to other parts of the organisation. No jobs will be lost, but the net effect of this game of musical chairs is that the unit will cease in-house production in 2026. A boon for the so-called independent production sector, the policy has been decried by journalists, technicians and other RTÉ staff members represented by its trade union group as an exercise in backdoor privatisation. But that plan has also put management on a collision course with staff members, which looks difficult to avert.
