Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There is simply no justification for a small number of people at the top to get salaries that are multiples of what the ordinary journalists, crew and workers in RTÉ get. This notion of "the talent" implied a sort of hierarchy. The truth is, to make a show, it is not just a contractor or highly-paid presenter that is needed. Sound people, researchers, a producer and all sorts of people, who are just as important, are needed for the creation of those shows. There is no justification for these staggering salaries or for people who in actuality are working for RTÉ being treated as if they are contractors bargaining for extortionate salaries. That starts this kind of rot.

I heard the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, say earlier that he does not necessarily think that the impact of advertising and commercial interests on RTÉ is detrimental to the integrity of public service broadcasting. I disagree. At the root of this, is the fact that RTÉ is supposed to be a public service broadcaster but is more interested in commercial revenues. It then thinks it deserves these salaries and gets involved in barter accounts with these commercial and advertising interests.

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