Ms Emma O'Kelly:

I agree with much of what the Deputy said. However hard it is to police employment in RTÉ - and it has been very hard - it is much harder in the private sector, and that is what we are facing. The Deputy spoke about the summer. Our worst fears are being brought to pass because we were hoping this would be a catalyst for positive change but it is a case of using a crisis to drive through another agenda. Even though there is absolutely no connection between the size of RTÉ and ordinary staff and ordinary workers in RTÉ, it seems we are the ones who are bearing the brunt of the scandals we heard about over the summer. We are seeing the workforce cut by one fifth. As the Deputy said, and I said it earlier, this will now be outsourced to the private sector. I have been contacted by people in the private sector since June. I looked back at some of the texts I got and one of them is from a person I know from years back. He spoke about the stress and insecurity of working in the private sector, going from gig to gig. He said that by your 40s, you are worn down. As the Deputy said, they have no contract – nothing.

The questions I wish to ask are as follows. Why is RTÉ being cut? I ask politicians why is this decision being taken to cut the RTÉ workforce by one fifth? I have not seen the rationale for that. Why do programmes have to be privatised wholesale, or whole parts of the organisation? Television entertainment is being emptied out at the moment. The plans for a Saturday night show have been shelved. It has all been hollowed out to be privatised. We do not why this is happening and we have seen no rationale for it. It all seems questionable. If one says something enough it becomes the truth or an accepted thing that just has to happen, and we do not understand why.