Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I am not sure whether Senator Walsh attended a recent meeting of the Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when Mr. Cathal Goan gave a perfect example of how to do it properly. He simply stated that income had dropped by €70 million and presented the business plan for the year. In other words, he balanced the books and that is what it is about. There are three ways this can be done. The State can run it entirely, the State can be semi-detached as at RTE, or it can use the version in New Zealand where there are crown companies which effectively must be run as private sector operations and work independently but are owned by the State which has a type of golden vote or a golden share.

It would be remiss of me having listened and questioned very closely the RTE Authority in recent times not to point to the trust and confidence it created by stating its income. It did it so well that members of the committee kept asking the witnesses how they would deal with having negative books. They did not understand that a drop in income is involved and not a charge on the Exchequer or the returning of a report of minus €70 million. It is a drop in income from advertising or whatever and it is being dealt with. It is a perfect example of doing what Senator Walsh discussed. That is the way it is done and it is happening very well in RTE at present. I am not discussing issues of waste because I do not know anything about them. I am stating that in terms of the business plan and balancing the books, what is required by amendment No. 38 is being done at present.