Mr. Kevin Bakhurst:

I recognise fully that people are facing up to the strategy now and the reality, even though we published it in November. The main pillars were there. This is the reality now and they see the reality. They have seen the reality that we will be shrinking back significantly on site, and that is a physical manifestation that we will be smaller as an organisation.

The Senator is totally right. It is about communicating and giving reassurance. I keep reassuring on the voluntary nature of the exit scheme. It is about talking this through with staff.

I understand members of the committee have been contacted and I will not downplay it. There are areas of the organisation that are concerned more than others, as we discussed before. However, a significant number of members of the organisation also know this is the only way to stabilise the organisation. There are no easy choices.

Is anyone seriously saying we should spend €300 million over a 12-year period on the old buildings on Donnybrook? I could not come into this committee and say that is a plan I can present to the Government or the committee and say it is money well spent from taxpayers’ hard-earned money when we do not really need those buildings and there is a better way of doing it.

We are not alone in this strategy. I was talking to an old colleague at the BBC. The BBC spends 33% of its money on independent productions. Under this strategy, we will not be quite to that level. It will be in excess of what the Future of Media Commission stated. We will not be spending the same on independent productions as someone like the BBC. This is the way organisations are moving – a hybrid model of spending in-house and spending with independent partners, who bring in all sorts of new ideas, new thinking, diversity of thought and so on, which would be refreshing for our schedules and content.