Mr. Kevin Bakhurst:

I thank the Senator. The change we are driving and have driven, first of all, is to make clear the values of the organisation, that we want to be transparent, that we want to drive value for money, that we expect people to behave in a transparent and straightforward way and that we do not tolerate bad behaviour. I think there have been a few instances in which we have dealt with that. We are investing in staff. There is a significant learning and development programme for staff. Plans are in the strategy to put even more money into that. We are communicating much better with staff. We have just started that, but, from the top down, I think it has started to happen much more. It is not just the town halls, staff forum and new manager forum, it is about being available, going around the organisation and having open access. So far in the job, I have never refused anyone to come and see me so that if they have an issue, they can raise it directly. That is a valuable way of hearing what is going on in the organisation as well.

It is also about talking to people about how we need to modernise the organisation and ways of working. The Senator is right. The vast majority of people at RTÉ work very hard and deliver fantastic content and programmes for audiences. There are, undoubtedly, some who do not. The majority of management at RTÉ is very good but are they all? No, they are not. We need to invest in management as well. I was shocked when I came in that HR did not have an IT system. The HR team spent a lot of its time going through filing cabinets. We need to invest in that. Any modern organisation which can set performance targets and give appraisals and so on needs that infrastructure. It is a process. It will not happen overnight, as the Senator said. It is in place. Fundamentally, I hope there is a culture of respect.