Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is huge overlap. That fact has been enhanced here again in relation to artists, workers and their capacity to earn their livelihoods, and what conditionality we can propose to attach to the transposition of the AI directive in that regard.

I am conscious of the workers who are in a difficult and different place in RTÉ. I presume that, with the reduction of 400-odd workers, there will be more programmes, such as religious programming and the Monday night "Upfront with Katie Hannon" show, because of the fact that, once the 400 are gone and there has been movement inside, there will be greater capacity to start making decisions in that area. That is potentially what unions fear, I presume, because some areas will see more people lost than others. The conditionality is that those roles cannot be replaced, so RTÉ might not be able to fulfil its mandate - if it is its mandate - in relation to certain areas. I presume that is a big fear. As a committee, we need to watch what happens post the big line or point being reached next September or October because we need to be a voice for workers. Once those workers leave, it will take a while to manifest and go through, but in autumn next year, there will be signals that we need to watch for.