Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I join Senator Buttimer in paying tribute to John Bowman for the impartial way in which he chaired so many interesting political debates over the years and for his encouragement of audience participation. This is not the right way for RTE to claw back its budgetary shortfall of €68 million. Eliminating some of the American trash on our screens or imposing cuts in the salaries of some its highest paid personalities might be better ways of doing so. A message must go out loud and clear from this House that we will not tolerate any dilution of RTE's commitment to current affairs programming and debate. We in this House are only relevant if the public knows what we are saying in the course of the interesting debates that take place in this Chamber. I pay tribute to Mr. Bowman and thank him for all his years of service. I wish him well for the future.