BBC Radio Foyle cuts are a "painful saving" says BBC Director General

It was announced last November that eight news staff are at risk of redundancy at BBC Radio Foyle, as plans to axe the Foyle Breakfast Show as well as local news bulletins, came to light.

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

Speaking to the Public Accounts Committee at Westminster, BBC Director General, Tim Davie, said talks with staff at BBC Radio Foyle would continue until May as he defended the BBC'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. "So, we think there are better ways of using the money."

Mr Davie told MPs that the BBC was looking at "where their money can be most effectively spent."

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

Mr Davie was also questioned regarding letters that both the National Union of Journalists and the Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council had sent to him, inviting him and senior BBC staff to Derry.

Mr Davie said they have "only just received some of those letters."

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane, Councillor Sandra Duffy, said Mr Davie's comments at the meeting showed he "does not understand the complexities and the people that live here."

Ms Duffy appealed again for Mr Davie and BBC senior management to visit the city and added, "It is very particular issues that BBC Radio Foyle covers. We are very complex people and we deserve our own radio station."

Previously, when the cuts were announced at the end of last year, 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."