BBC Radio Foyle proposals a 'painful saving', BBC's Tim Davie says

Tim Davie was addressing Westminster's Public Accounts Committee on Thursday as it discussed the BBC's plan to invest more in digital output.

Cuts to programming and jobs at BBC Radio Foyle are a "painful saving", BBC Director General Tim Davie has said.

Eight news staff are at risk of redundancy and output, including the Breakfast Show as well as local news bulletins, is being cut.

It is part of wider plans announced to close 36 posts across BBC Northern Ireland to make savings.

Previously, the BBC said it was "committed to Foyle as a production centre for local and regional content".

"The savings plans we have announced affect many different people and teams within BBC NI. Our engagement with them is ongoing," the corporation said.

Giving evidence to the Public Accounts Committee at Westminster, Mr Davie said consultation with staff at BBC Radio Foyle would continue until May and defended the corporation's proposals.

"This is a painful saving but we believe we should be investing more in digital and be doing more across the whole of Northern Ireland in terms of developing the production sector and other things," Mr Davie said in response to a question by MP for The Cotswolds Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.

"So, we think there are better ways of using the money."

About 250 people attended a public meeting in Derry's Guildhall earlier this month to protest against proposed cuts to BBC Radio Foyle.

Mr Davie was also asked about letters that both the National Union of Journalists and the mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council have sent him, inviting him and senior BBC staff to Derry.

Mr Davie said they "have only just received some of those letters" and said he believes "in responding engagement - which is a critical factor for the BBC".

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle's News At One programme, Derry City and Strabane Mayor Sandra Duffy said Mr Davie's comments at the meeting showed he was "not across this area".

"He does not understand the complexities and the people that live here," Ms Duffy said.

BBC Radio Foyle was founded in 1979 at the height of the Troubles to provide more localised coverage of Derry

"It is very particular issues that BBC Radio Foyle covers. We are very complex people and we deserve our own radio station."

She appealed again for Mr Davie and BBC senior management to visit the city.

Mr Davie told MPs that the BBC cared "deeply about these issues" and was looking at "where their money can be most effectively spent".

Meanwhile, Foyle MP Colum Eastwood says he will use his new role as vice-chair of the BBC All-Party Parliamentary Group in Westminster to continue to fight the proposals for Radio Foyle.

The SDLP leader was elected to the role on Thursday.

"In my view, these targeted cuts are designed to make the station unsustainable and pave the way for a shutdown of the service," he said.

"The BBC charter places a duty on the organisation to ensure that audiences can engage fully with local and regional issues, and this decision is an obvious breach of that obligation."

A BBC-wide strategy

BBC Radio Foyle has approached the BBC Press Office for a response to comments made at Thursday's meeting.

Previously, when the cuts were announced in November, the BBC said its plans "reflect a BBC-wide strategy to prioritise digital content, announced earlier this year, and the need to manage inflationary and other cost pressures".

"Efforts have been made to limit the effect of proposed changes on the scope and benefits of BBC services in Northern Ireland and local staff teams," it said.