Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

The Minister is probably correct. The public broadcaster has responsibilities to the public. It also has responsibilities to the State. The balance achieved between these is of obvious importance. I would love to have been a fly on the wall during the recent discourse between the director general of the national broadcaster and the Minister for Finance about a recent edition of "Liveline". The Minister rang in and asked Joe Duffy about what was going on regarding people withdrawing their money from banks. I would love to have been there for that and to hear the director general respond. That would provide a great insight to those of us on this side of the House on how best we can deal with this kind of thing when we are in Government, which ultimately will happen.

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