Ms Dee Forbes:

First, I appreciate why the Deputy would think that and why people think it generally. Let us put some context around it. First, the cost of that talent to us as an organisation is 1% of our total cost base. Some 99% of our costs go to other things. That is the percentage that expenditure takes up.

The other thing that we really have to remember as we think about this is that we get half of our funding from the licence fee and half from commercial revenues. It is incumbent on these presenters and broadcasters, who are the best in the country, to ensure that RTÉ gets strong audiences, both from a relevance point of view and to be attractive to advertisers. We should remember that there is an onus on those people not just to provide a public service but also to make us attractive from a commercial point of view. One of our objectives as stated in the Broadcasting Act 2009 is to optimise our content from a commercial point of view.

The other thing to bear in mind is that there is a competitive marketplace for broadcasters. It is not unnoticed, in this country and in others, that these broadcasters can command big audiences and are in demand. There is a market for that. Outside RTÉ, some other broadcasters are being paid even more than some of ours but that is another discussion. It is also important to bear in mind that my predecessor, Noel Curran, looked at the situation a couple of years ago and corrected the level of salaries. They were significantly higher than they are today and were reduced by between 30% and 40%. We have committed as an organisation to maintain that and I am committed to that. When contracts come up for review, they will be assessed on the basis of the market at the time, as well as on a number of other factors. I recognise that it looks like a lot of money but a lot is expected of these people.