Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To be fair to Deputy Costello, his heart is in the right place, but I am worried about what I see going on. If you put what he proposes into legislation, people would think they have rights and that RTÉ must jump based on them every time a request is made. It would be like the freedom of information arrangements. That power is totally abused. Recently, a guy contacted my office who had made 70 complaints to the Workplace Relations Commission. Under the legislation, the body has no powers to weed out contrary or vexatious complaints. They all have to be dealt with before being thrown out. The individual sent a freedom of information request to my office seeking all correspondence. In this context, I have a fear in respect of the archives.

Mr. Horan surprised me when he said he did not have the sport rights. I did not know that. I thought RTÉ had rights for everything it produces, being the broadcaster going into Croke Park, the Aviva and other place to film. Despite its not having the rights, it is actually paying for this.