Ms Breda O'Keeffe:

Much of the questioning concerned the top talent. I apologise if it seemed I was oblique about contractors, because that was certainly not the intention. To clarify, Deputy O'Donovan mentioned the BBC figures, in which 19 stars were paid over £22 million. Deputy O'Donovan cited a figure of £500,000, but in some cases the salaries are well in excess of £2 million. I accept there is more competition in the UK and the audiences are bigger, but we can put that to one side. Before RTE adopted the strategy of reducing its top talent, the average of the top ten in 2008 was under €500,000. It was €444,000. Before any reductions were taken, that was the figure. That clarifies the point about contractors. It refers to a combination of contractors and a couple of employees. We are not yet finished because negotiations are continuing but, projecting the figure forward, the average in 2013 will be under €300,000, closer to €280,000. That is a significant reduction in our top talent. No one is saying that is not a large figure, but it is a substantial reduction. The reductions were disclosed in March and range from 21% to 68%. They have been significant, although they pale to insignificance next to the BBC figures.

Deputy O'Donovan mentioned that the pay cuts at RTE involved the lower-paid staff. The pay cut was taken in 2009. It was taken very quickly by our staff in response to the economic downturn in 2008. It was a graduated pay cut from 2.35% for lower earners up to 12.5% for higher earners. We implemented what was a fair pay scale reduction so people who earned more took more of a cut and those who earned less did not take as much of a cut.

With regard to exits, we mentioned a figure of 20% of staff leaving between 2008 and 2011. Over 16% of those were managers, so the exits were not all from the staff element. They have also been from the higher-paid managerial grades, so we hope balance applied to the cuts in pay and the staff numbers leaving the organisation.