Mr. Mark Griffin:

RTE has a set of public sector objectives that it must publish on an annual basis, setting out its role as a public sector broadcaster. Even compared with other organisations with which we deal, RTE's role is set out comprehensively in statute. A chunk of money is allocated to it from television licence receipts. It also receives money from the Department of Social Protection. The amount it has received has declined significantly in the past few years. One should also bear in mind that the commercial income the company received would have been under significant pressure during the recession. With a reduction in licence fee receipts, it would have taken a double hit because of decreasing commercial income. There is a block of money, of which €9.245 million goes to TG4. Approximately €14 million per annum is assigned to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and to support the sound and vision and archiving schemes.

I have dealt with the director general, Mr. Noel Curran, and seen the work done by the company in the past few years. It would be worthwhile, if time permitted, to have a look at the report produced by NewERA in the past couple of years. RTE has cut costs dramatically and there are very good metrics included in the NewERA report. I cannot recall some of the useful examples off the top of my head, but with regard to getting bang for your buck, looking across the rest of Europe in public service broadcasting in particular, RTE performs very well. It has reduced staff numbers, while salaries have been hit.