Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank everybody for the presentation. It is no harm every now and again to remind ourselves, notwithstanding how drastically wrong things went at RTÉ and what a catastrophe it has been, that nobody personally benefited. People made decisions for whatever reason. As many of the main actors are not here, it is hard to get to the motivation but nobody benefited personally from it. People made decisions. It is helpful to remind ourselves of that. I think I knew based on the many friends I have had in RTÉ over the years is that through successive administrations, it has been poorly run. Up to recently, it was a very poorly run organisation. As a result, certain practices and customs built up over time. Mr. Lynch referred to it as the silo approach. People did not want to speak out because nobody spoke out; it was top-down and bottom-up. That has permeated through the organisation. It may be why we are in the situation we are in.

I am more interested in finding out where RTÉ is going. We all know where it has come from. We can fight over what is left on the carcass and make all sorts of wild allegations that will get a 30-second sound bite if that is what we want. That is not going to do anything for public service broadcasting, which I hold very dear and want to see progressed. I want to understand how the culture has changed. I am sure it is not where it needs to be yet. What is being put in place to try to address that? How does it permeate through the organisation? I hear from friends who work in the organisation that it has cascaded down through it. Some people work extraordinarily hard at management level and in the general staff, but there are people who swing the lead and leave the work to others. What kind of systems are in place?

On the future of the organisation, a great deal is linked to what RTÉ's funding envelope will be. Will Mr. Bakhurst remind us again of what is the core of what is left of public service broadcasting? A point occurred to me as Mr. Bakhurst was speaking. He mentioned that there were perhaps ten people in respect of whom there may be some tax implications. That matter is being worked through with Revenue, as should be the case. Have those ten people been apprised of the fact that their exits may be the subject of some tax issues? I know RTÉ will carry the responsibility and the burden. Will the witnesses comment on those questions? I then have one little clip afterwards, if I can.