Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will begin by asking some questions before calling other Deputies and Senators.

Ms Forbes mentioned that the BAI had recommended that RTÉ receive an additional €30 million per annum. I thank her for her comments on the joint committee's work on the future funding of public service broadcasting. Given that the elimination of the evasion rate of 14.6% would generate approximately €40 million, would that not be a way of resolving the issue of the funding shortfall identified by the BAI?

Ms Forbes mentioned that RTÉ had used the money it had received when it sold some of its lands at Donnybrook to reduce its bank debt. What is it current level of debt? By how much has it been reduced?

Ms Forbes referred to the finding made in the Mulvey gender and equality report that "RTÉ is both a fair and equitable employer". This is reflective of the position in the public sector generally. The report highlighted areas in which RTÉ was doing well. What are Ms Forbes's views on why a number of leading female journalists and broadcasters have expressed concern about the pay discrepancies within RTÉ? Is it a question of transparency? Is there a need to explain why there are differentials? What does RTÉ intend to do to improve the level of transparency? Perhaps there is a need to explain the various contracts. Will RTÉ be looking at phasing out anomalous contracts into the future?

I understand that in certain grades there might be an under-representation of a particular gender. For example, there is a lower percentage of male employees at the level of administrative and office-related operations. What is RTÉ planning to do to address that issue? I would like Ms Forbes to provide figures for the numbers of women in decision-making roles within the organisation.

According to Ms Forbes, RTÉ has addressed many of the issues raised in the EBU peer review report and acting on a number of them. I am aware that action is being taken as part of one RTÉ initiative, but will Ms Forbes tell the committee about any other area that is being addressed and worked on in this context?

I will bring in Deputy Timmy Dooley before I ask Ms Forbes to respond to the many questions I have asked.