Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister and the Government have been clear that they do not want mandatory redundancies. RTÉ has committed to seeking voluntary redundancies. Public funding has increased and the Government will make a decision on the future funding of RTÉ, which has always been part RTÉ licence fee, part Exchequer funding and part commercial revenue. RTÉ has always taken in commercial revenues for many decades, and Deputy Boyd Barrett knows that. That has been a feature of the model. RTÉ now proposes in its latest strategy to increase the level of content produced by the independent production sector. That was signalled in the strategic vision document, which the broadcaster published last November.

Second, it had already been recommended by the Future of Media Commission, which was established to consider the significant challenges facing the wider broadcasting and media sector in light of increasing globalised competition and to make recommendations in order that we could continue to have a sustainable public sector broadcaster and public service content.

Take TG4, for example. The latter has been a very innovative State-owned company and it uses that model quite extensively. It sources almost its entire schedule from the independent sector. We need a balance, although I accept the need for in-house talent to be developed within RTÉ itself. I accept that principle in terms of the skill sets and making sure people have continuing professional development, are retrained and so on. All of that is provided for within the RTÉ strategy. It commits to increasing the amount of RTÉ content that is produced outside of Dublin, for example, which is important and which I welcome in the context of new proposals for Cork and other cities and areas across the country.

Ultimately, RTÉ has to manage its affairs. I do not think the operational management of RTÉ can be undertaken by the Oireachtas or, for that matter, the Government. What the Government does have to do is look at the overall strategic framework, not only in policy terms but also in funding terms. The Government will make its decision on that in the coming weeks.

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