Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The recruitment freeze is a stabilisation measure. Mr. Bakhurst said he did not want to impose mandatory staff cuts. Will a process of voluntary redundancies be offered? When looking at the headcount within RTÉ, we have spoken about the loss of confidence among the public. They are looking at a very small portion of the RTÉ high earners, many of whom are not staff members, like Emma O’Kelly, and they are looking at where those cost-saving measures can be made. In that respect, the essence of her words is that it will not be on the journalist who is on €50,000 or €60,000, working behind the scenes, as opposed to a top presenter, who might do a couple of hours a week but is on €250,000 a year. Where will Mr. Bakhurst direct that freeze and those voluntary redundancies before he has to impose mandatory staff redundancies that will fall on ordinary journalists?