Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman. What was the purpose of the PricewaterhouseCoppers involvement because at this stage it crops up virtually every time we switch on the radio or television. There was reference to how it benefits the economy. I presume that means that the money people gave to RTE benefited the economy and that it includes the licence fee. It is rather like a Deputy commissioning a report on what amount of money he or she contributes to the local economy from his or her wages and expenses and putting it up as a plus as to why people should vote for him or her. That would be ridiculous. It is actually the people's money that is being used to tell to us how great is RTE. Would it not have made more sense to leave the slots free for health promotion or getting people into sport? What is so important about this that RTE has to tell us all it is contributing to the economy with our money?

In regard to the pay of some of its presenters, a Deputy said that people are very good at having a go at us in regard to our pay. By God, they are right because we get paid far too much. That does not exclude us from asking why, say, Marian Finucane, according to the latest figures available to me for 2011, receives €492,000 per year for bringing her friends around on a Saturday and Sunday morning on national radio. The witnesses mentioned how important these people are from an advertising point of view and where would RTE be without them. Where would Marian Finucane and Pat Kenny be without RTE? It is a kind of symbiotic relationship. Nobody would know who they are were it not for RTE. When RTE decides their value, how does it come to conclusions? Does it look at what people are paid in Radio Manchester? I doubt if anybody is paid €0.5 million for four hours work in Radio Manchester and, if so, I do not know how it could remain open for business. How is the pay calculated for these people?

An excellent point was made by the Deputy on my left about the fact that RTE has new presenters who do not appear in the top ten. It is refreshing to hear new people on RTE Radio because it is like groundhog day at this stage. For how many decades do we need to hear these people who bring their own personal opinions to the airwaves? It is time they were moved on and that RTE used some of its talent that does not seem to cost a fortune. If it did, they would appear in the top ten.

RTE does a good job in certain ways. It would want to as it gets enough money. It would want to do something good. It is inevitable that it does something good. I admit RTE has improved from the days when it started in the evening with "Upstairs Downstairs" and closed at 11 p.m. That is an improvement but many more improvements could be made. From the point of view of value for money for presenters, if in the morning RTE was to say to Marianne Finucane that it would give her €100,000-----