RTÉ HAS SUSPENDED its tender for photography of its Fair City soap opera after receiving public criticism over the cost of the promotional material.

The public broadcaster cited the newly announced freeze on hiring and discretionary spending as reason for pausing the tender process in a statement released this afternoon. 

“RTÉ has decided to suspend the current public tender process for Fair City photography,” the statement read.

“While high quality professional photography enables RTÉ to promote the drama series, following last week’s announcements of a recruitment freeze and stopping all discretionary spend, RTÉ will pause the tender process and take time to review the volume of photography required and length of contract, among other considerations.

“A revised tender document will issue once these decisions have been made.”

Director-general of RTÉ, Kevin Bakhurst also pointed to the recent loss of revenue from unpaid TV license fees that has followed the undisclosed payments scandal that rocked RTÉ this summer. 

“Given the steep fall in the licence fee and the uncertainty over interim funding, and following last week’s announcements, we have decided to halt the current tender process for Fair City photography,” he said. 

“While quality professional photography is essential to enable us to promote our programmes and engage audiences, it is not possible for RTE to commit to a four-year contract or to this level of spend given the challenges we now face.

“So, we have decided to take time to consider the best way to balance the needs of the series with the need to reduce costs where we can.

“We will continue to explore how we can cut costs and maximise funding of our public services through commercial revenue, while also working hard to restore trust in RTÉ.”