Ms Emma O'Kelly:

We have not got much information but, at the same time, I feel we are seeing it happen. The information is coming to us from what we are seeing happen. I am concerned about speaking about this in the future tense because it is not in the future tense; it is happening. I was contacted last week by a worker in RTÉ who told me that after six years working in the organisation, he has been told, "That is it, goodbye, it is over." He says he has given six years of his life to the organisation but that is it and he is gone now, RTÉ tells him. This is actually happening. It is present tense, not future tense. It is happening and we are seeing it happen. I think RTÉ will lose the 40 it is due to lose this year very easily by not renewing fixed-term contracts such as that of the person who has been working for six years.

I want to link this to the bogus self-employed. What has happened in this regard is a disgrace but it is not a coincidence that now, at a time when the game is up for bogus self-employment, RTÉ is saying it is farming out and cutting staff by one fifth. This is moving jobs into the gig economy. It means RTÉ does not have to bother about the likes of diversity or equality or any of those messy things like holiday pay and maternity pay. It has been really tough. It is tough policing good quality employment in RTÉ but it will be tougher still trying to ensure those affected will have rights when in the private sector.