Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Okay. Again, in regard to what most people would see as the high rate of salaries, we would all be aware of the campaign by RTÉ to seek a licence fee increase and to seek more money. Do the witnesses not think it was extraordinary that RTÉ would still continue to pay this high level of salaries? The witnesses can make the assumption, or they may actually have said to us, that RTÉ reduced salaries along the route.

That is fair enough. If you look back at the late Gay Byrne’s time, Pat Kenny’s time and now Ryan Tubridy, of course there is a big difference in salary. Do you not think, as you continue to press for more from the public purse, that it was very unwise to be paying such big salaries to a certain group of people?