Mr. S?amus Dooley:

Public service broadcasting is a rich tapestry or a jigsaw, with all the pieces related. I am as concerned about the future of the concert orchestra as Ms Hannick is. Why stop with the concert orchestra? Why not abandon Irish language programming? Why worry about archives? It is important that the public service broadcaster fulfils its entire remit. The very commercial values - which is a contradiction in terms - that brought us to our knees, that is, the flip-flop mentality, the executive pay, the commercialisation and the private enterprise ethos, are the very antithesis of public service broadcasting.

On the industry, I am going back in a way to Deputy Griffin's and Senator Carrigy's comments. One of the issues that is relevant about the private sector is that it has scant regard for trade union recognition. We do not have trade union recognition rights for collective bargaining in Ireland. That is why, since members asked about the independent sector, I cannot represent members in Virgin Media. They pay their money, but I am not let in the door unless I want to go on "The Tonight Show" to criticise RTÉ. We are not allowed into Bauer Media. We are not recognised in most of the local radio stations. That is important. It is easy to debate this in isolation from a much wider picture. If there is to be an increase in independent public service broadcasting that is great because we need that, but if it is going to be outsourcing, then public procurement rules must apply. We must ensure that people are not transferred or we will be having a conversation in ten years' time about bogus self-employment and other dodgy contracts, but it will just be under a different umbrella.