Mr. Séamus Dooley:

Deputy Byrne will not get any disagreement from me regarding TG4 or the work our freelance members do. At the same time, the primary public service broadcaster is RTÉ and it creates the talent. In some respects, RTÉ is the workshop which encourages other people. They can coexist, but what we are saying is, if you want to develop talent, it should not be done through expensive outsourcing.

With regard to public interest journalism, which is the phrase I tend to use nowadays, there is a reality in the regional media sector where there are companies such as Iconic Newspapers, which has a bid to acquire The Connacht Tribune. Unite, SIPTU and the NUJ have opposed that because not only does the largest single regional newspaper in Ireland not recognise unions, it will not reply to letters from the three unions regarding the transfer of undertakings legislation. Yet, the newspaper is a beneficiary of Coimisiún na Meán's schemes. Public procurement rules, in that sense, should involve engagement because it is a group that has enormously talented-----