Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for being here. I will return to the issue of contractors. A lot of people will still be surprised to learn that some of the familiar faces they see on their television screens are not direct employees of RTÉ and are, in fact, contractors. Seven of the ten top earners in RTÉ, according to its 2019 reports, were contractors. Will Ms Forbes explain why somebody who essentially works full time for RTÉ would have become a contractor in the first place and the historical basis for it?