Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. It is fair to say that it has been a very difficult 12 months for everybody at RTÉ, but critical as part of this process is that we have a stronger RTÉ at the end of all of this, and I have confidence that we will. When Mr. Bakhurst first came before us, he said to judge him on results. With regard to the general direction of the organisation, I say well done to Mr. Bakhurst and his team. This does not mean we necessarily agree on everything, but I appreciate that it is a process of transformation in an organisation, and it is critical to involve all staff, as well as the audiences.

We cannot lose sight of the bigger picture in a digital age, and I welcome the greater commitment to digital. Having public service broadcasting will be important, and indeed that Irish voices and Irish stories continue to be told. The recent election coverage by RTÉ deserves praise. At this committee we have sometimes criticised the lack of coverage of minority sports. I have full praise for RTÉ's coverage of the European Athletics Championships in Rome. Speaking on international coverage and maintaining it, I welcome the appointment today of Tommy Meskill as London correspondent. He has been an excellent journalist around here and the fact that there is still a commitment to maintain a London correspondent is important.

We are obviously here to talk about the strategy, because this is ultimately how RTÉ will be judged. It cannot just be a report; there must also be implementation of that. I welcome the statement that was made regarding having a very vibrant content creation industry in Ireland. Ultimately, it is all about the content. Given what is going on within the Irish content creation sector more generally, do the witnesses believe that we will see a much bigger and stronger content creation sector in Ireland? I refer to pumping out content in terms of film, TV and drama, as well as public service broadcasting and being able to engage in the digital space.