Ms Moya Doherty:

There are a couple of things, in an overview, that are probably worth mentioning to do with what was definitely on the agenda today for discussion, which is RTÉ's public service statement and commitment. Every five years that is addressed and as part of that process, RTÉ goes out to talk to its audience and ask it what it thinks of RTÉ; what it wants and whether it likes RTÉ and trusts it. Let us talk about some statistics. For 2020, of the audiences who are committed to RTÉ and watch it said, 89% said it was important that RTÉ produced a mix of programmes and content. Some 89% agreed audiences should have access to a broad range of high-quality content.

Some 92% say it is important to provide coverage of events of national interest across cultural, sport, politics and other areas and 87% also say that it is important that RTÉ provides archive material documenting the heritage and everyday life in Ireland, which should be accessible in all formats. Earlier, a Senator mentioned "Radharc". I was totally committed to "Radharc" programming. There is a vast swathe of hours of wonderful television. During my time on this board, because the archives were in a perilous state we put some capital expenditure into protecting and upgrading them. Those archives will be made available free of charge to everybody around the country. We may or may not like a particular programme or think there is not enough of something, but all of those things can be addressed. We do address them regularly with our public. My ask of this committee is that it tell us what type of public service media it wants and, when The Future of Media Commission statement is made, to tell us how it will respond. If we believe, as has been stated, it will come out as revenue, how will this committee respond?