Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Mr. Zeff. That clarity is helpful. I think there is a willingness, and I would like to see, a greater partnership approach. On a slight reference to what Senator McDowell has indicated, as a society and as a Legislature, we need to define what it is we want our public service broadcaster to be. While I do not disagree with everything Senator McDowell has said, RTE carries two orchestras and TG4 is run separately. It has given us the explanation behind this, although I still think it has a long way to go to get a model. We have taken its representatives through those issues, we have roasted them and we will continue to do that to get them focused. However, there is the elasticity argument that if one is trying to extract more and still expect the public service broadcaster to do it at the same cost, then at some point it snaps. That is where we have a fundamental problem.

It is not all about getting more money to keep doing the same thing. RTE has to change and we need to see that. That will be probably be part of our dialogue with it during our next engagement. To the greatest extent possible, we also have to try to understand where there is potential for increased moneys to support public service broadcasting in a very changed environment. I am not guided by anything that RTE has said, but by what the BAI has said. I put a lot of stock in what the BAI has said through the various different reports which it has commissioned and the presentations it has made to the committee.