Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the staff and their representatives and trade unions for attending. It is almost a year since the payments to Mr. Tubridy came into the limelight and we had our first sessions on those payments and the situation that followed. It is not good enough that it has taken us almost a full year to get staff and their representatives into committee to hear from them. I am sorry it has taken that long but I am glad they are here now and that we will hear from them.

I hear clearly the desperate plea from staff and union representatives for the future funding model to be decided. It is fair to say that most members of this committee have been quite strong on that matter. A decision has to be made, sooner rather than later. We are waiting on two reports but that too has been going on too long. The issue needs to be decided.

One of the main reasons for this session is that we have not yet heard staff voices on the issues arising around the payments to Mr. Tubridy through to the massive exit packages that were paid. We have heard the strong statements staff have made in protests at RTÉ and in the media but they have not had a chance yet to express their opinions at this committee. I ask RTÉ staff members to describe how they felt during this period, from the emergence of the payments from the barter accounts right through to the exit packages. I want to give them an opportunity to describe how that made them feel. We heard statements from members of the executive board that they understood the staff and how these issues affected morale within RTÉ. I would like to give the RTÉ staff this opportunity to say a few words on that.