Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Would Mr. Lynch also say that the quid pro quofor the funding that could restore the integrity of public service broadcasting and deal with the tension by eliminating it, which is what needs to happen, is to address the other matter that does not sit well with people and is infuriating them in all of this, namely, the staggeringly high salary levels of an ultimately small, but fairly significant, minority of people at the top, including presenters, executives, board members and managers? I will put my question directly to Ms Doherty. She spoke about presenters having charisma and so on. How should I put this? Of course, they are an important part of the process but I seriously question the sharp distinction between a group who are the “talent” and everyone else who makes the programmes. I put this question to the executive as well. Do we not need to deal with that? It feeds into the notion that some people have to get extortionate salaries when everyone else, who is every bit as important in putting those shows together and often comes up with the ideas behind the shows, including researchers, sound people, camera people and all sorts of others as opposed to just the people at the front-----