Ms Dee Forbes:

A number of years ago NewERA recommended that RTÉ should look at its assets in terms of sale. A number of years ago the board decided that we should look at the sale of some land. It was agreed that we could sell up to ten acres of unused land within Montrose. Of course we had to go through the various Department consents. That involved a combination of our Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. We did all of that and we had consent to sell the land in March 2017, although it seems like it was longer ago. As you said, Chairman, we received €107.5 million for that land. In the course of seeking the approval and consent we were required to have clear guidelines with regard to what the money would be spent on.

The guidelines fall into three categories. One is around capital investment. As we mentioned earlier, we have not been spending money on capital over the years because of the cuts. Capital investment is much-needed in RTÉ throughout the country. The second area relates to paying down some debt. We have some debt. Again, we had to pay some of that down. The third area was to allow us to restructure the organisation. Again, we are cognisant of our costs in the organisation. We launched a voluntary exit plan that was enabled by the land sale; it was an attempt to reduce our cost base. These were the three areas of expenditure for which we could use the land money. It is clear. We have a clear process internally about how we do this. The money is ring-fenced. It is only for those purposes and nothing else. It will not be used for operational purposes because there are state aid rules etc. involved in all of that.