Results 2,261-2,280 of 10,366 for speaker:Niamh Smyth

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: I remind the Deputies the bell has gone again. Be mindful of that.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: I will interrupt Deputy O'Sullivan. Can we pause? I know he has two more questions. I will give him the same latitude as I gave everybody else, so I will suspend to allow us to go and vote. We will then return. I apologise to other colleagues.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: Deputy O'Sullivan has some time left, so I ask him to continue his line of questioning.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: I ask the Deputy to bear with us for a moment. The broadcasting unit does not-----

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: I think Mr. Lynch wants to add to that.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: To interject, is there some final comment Ms O'Keeffe wishes to make on this?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: Okay.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: Okay. That concludes that piece. It comes to me now. I appreciate we are hours into this and our guests are probably exhausted, so I will try to be as short as possible. If Mr. Coveney does not mind I would like to go back to the toy show musical. I appreciate it is difficult and that he put his hand up and said it was not the success RTÉ had hoped it would be. I want to explore...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: When the creative team was planning this and all the rest, was any consideration given to the impact this might have on the more traditional pantos and musicals we have all been going to for years as kids and parents? Was there any consideration of the commercial impact that might have on them?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: Okay, but to answer my question, was any consideration given to the timing? I was at it by the way, but it obviously clashed with a lot of pantos and musicals around the city centre. I remember there was much discussion in the public domain at the time about the impact this was having on the livelihoods of artists, creators, makers and producers who have been at this for years.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: But they obviously came from somewhere else. RTÉ was just displacing them.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: No, what I mean is they must have come from other theatre sets or crews or whatever. RTÉ was displacing something else to put this on.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: I will go back to my question. Was there any consideration given to the impact this might have on the creative industries already in place? Mr. Coveney will say this was a musical, but we all attend the pantos at Christmastime and in the new year. Was there any consideration given to the impact?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: Did you not think to yourself perhaps there is enough of this?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: Did you never think to yourself or was it never discussed that there is enough of this happening already and you were just duplicating-----

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: If you were to run it again would you still do it in the convention centre?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: How then did you get rid of 9,000 free tickets?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2023)

Niamh Smyth: Does Mr. Coveney agree they are eye-watering numbers to think of? I say that as someone who worked in a much smaller theatre. The idea 9,000 bums on seats were free is an eye-watering figure. It is almost the same as the number of people who paid for tickets.