Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)

With the permission of the committee, I am going to take 15 minutes of our private time. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I have some quick questions. First, regarding this famous newsroom - fake news or whatever phrase people want to use – the witnesses have dealt with it. I have never had so many phone calls about an issue. Is this being produced totally in-house or how much of it is being produced using people from outside? For people looking in here, it would seem strange that RTÉ has to go out for somebody.

Second, relating to newsrooms, there are a pile of vacancies. There are many people who are saying there are no camera crews around the country. There is no mid-west correspondent at the moment. Will all those positions be filled and will there be adequate resources added?

Third, will there be no favourable treatment as regards keeping people beyond the required retirement age of 66 with an allowance of one year? That is an issue.

My final question is on a bugbear of mine. When is the quality of podcasts coming from RTÉ going to dramatically improve? I never listen to them because, to be frank, they are nowhere near the standard required, given the level of detail RTÉ has.