Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Essentially, what happens is that the money comes in on one side of the balance sheet and goes out on the other side. It is broken down by way of an allocation of 7% to the sound and vision fund, with a fixed figure of just over €9 million to TG4. Also, as mentioned earlier, 12.5% goes as an agency fee to An Post for collection of the licence. The allocation to TG4 was enshrined in the legislation a couple of years ago. Other than this, the money comes in on one side of the balance sheet and goes out on the other. Its use and apportionment in RTÉ is a matter for the board and management of RTÉ.

I know from experience that there is no significant grandstanding on this committee in comparison with a couple of years ago, when there was not a high-profile person working in RTÉ who was not trailed in terms of his or her hourly or weekly earnings. We seem to have matured a bit and that is welcome. However, there are still questions to be raised about the efficient allocation of what is taxpayers' money and about ensuring value for money and fairness in the allocation to different categories within RTÉ. We have had regular meetings with the management of RTÉ to make that point and to stress that onerous commitment, following the hugely depressing accounts for 2012, when the cost of the redundancy programme was factored into the accounts. It is a huge undertaking for RTÉ to bring in accounts that break even at the end of this year, but that is what is required of it. We will look at that as the year progresses.