Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 24 April 2024

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media

Culture and Governance Issues at RTÉ: Discussion

Ms Emma O'Kelly:

Yes, I do. However, I do not want to sound too negative either. I really do not want to put people off wanting to come into RTÉ. That question really tears me because when I came into the organisation, it was a very different place. It was an amazing thing to get in the door and be offered, after one year, a permanent job. It is so different now. I speak to so many talented younger colleagues who are really struggling and very stressed with extremely difficult shift patterns and many other real problems. The pay is very low, so I really feel concerned for them. Over the summer, I thought for the first time - and this was a terrible thing - that I did not know whether I would recommend it to anyone to come to RTÉ. That was a very shocking thing for me to feel because up until that point, I would always have said people should go for it. I want to reverse that here and say RTÉ needs young talent.

It may be hard to get in and it may be a struggle for people once they are in the organisation. Their ideas might not be taken on board. I really want all those people to keep coming to RTÉ. We need young people. We really value young people as colleagues and we want them in the organisation.

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