Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, NewERA interrogated that ask and came back to me with the recommendation last week. As the Deputy rightly pointed out, RTÉ has to fulfil its statutory obligations and we have to ensure that it does not fail as a result of this crisis, particularly in view of the value of public service broadcasting and the number of staff involved. I cannot reveal the exact figure that is being discussed with my colleagues right now, but I would point the Deputy to the Future of Media Commission recommendation. Last year, in the budget, there was a commitment from Government of €15 million. In order to fulfil that statutory obligation we should be looking at the figure of €16 million recommended by the Future of Media Commission. For anything else above that, we should wait until we see the strategic vision and what the plans are for robust governance, the future of RTÉ and cost efficiencies.