Mr. Trevor Keegan:

I thank the committee for the invitation to attend this evening alongside our TUG secretary, Ms Sorcha Vaughan. As co-chair of the trade union group in RTÉ, I am focused on the concerns of workers across RTÉ, who are represented by SIPTU, the NUJ, Connect, Unite, Equity and the MUI. There are many aspects of the bill which we welcome, such as RTÉ coming under the auspices of the Comptroller and Auditor General and increased focus on diversity of output, and oversight of corporate governance.

From the perspective of the TUG, our starting point is that the failure to reform the funding model over many years is a significant contributory factor to the financial crisis in RTÉ. While this Bill addresses many of the recommendations of the Future of Media Commission, the decision of the Government not to accept the recommendations on the funding of public service broadcasting was a major disappointment and the central problems around long-term funding remain. I hear constantly about the worries and fears of workers in the company over what we see as the proposed outsourcing of content which is currently made within RTÉ by highly skilled colleagues who have learned and honed their crafts over many years. While the RTÉ TUG does not object to a growing and improving independent sector, we object to this causing the displacement of safe employment with defined career paths and security of tenure at the national broadcaster. Simply offering existing RTÉ programmes for tender to outside productions does not enhance the cultural life of the nation.

Yes, many independent production companies make great television and radio, but aside from a small number of larger firms, it is generally content which is provided by workers on short-term contracts with fragile protections. This is not conducive to long-term careers in TV and radio production. We see no good reason to justify the possible farming out of a programme such as "The Late Late Show", which is not just a jewel in Irish broadcasting, but a historic bastion of broadcasting internationally, or outsourcing the production of this country’s only continuous drama, "Fair City". Our SIPTU colleagues have particular concerns in that regard. Such a move will only lead to less opportunity for secure jobs in the future for creative workers across a range of fields, including research, lighting, design, cameras, production, costume or make-up.

RTÉ is exploiting the requirement of this Act for increased independent production spend, to pursue its goal to dismantle and privatise whole sections of RTÉ. That is not creative; it is simply putting more licence payers' money into the pockets of private for-profit entities. Only in the past few weeks, I welcomed a number of interns who began work in RTÉ, where they can get an invaluable grounding in so many areas of the industry. Going forward, however, that may not be possible because some of these departments will no longer exist. The most recent casualty has been RTÉ’s religious programmes department, which has been effectively shut down. This is the department that made the series "Would You Believe" and "The Meaning of Life". Furthermore, the RTÉ trade unions were not consulted about this move. As I said, there are many laudable elements of the proposed amendments, but they should not come at the cost of the breaking up of the national broadcaster.