Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Senator Daly raised the question of salaries at RTE. I do not agree with Senator Crown's contention that this Department is the most important, but there are one or two things within it that are important. However, whenever I try to address these, somebody will ask me, "What about Pat Kenny's salary?" or "How much is Marian Finucane being paid?". What am I supposed to say? The fact is that the ordinary staff at RTE were the first out of the traps in taking pay reductions in the current crisis. I have made plain to the new director general, Noel Curran, that we cannot go on running an overdraft in RTE. As a result, he has embarked on a programme of redundancies that I understand is oversubscribed. I do not know how many people will unfortunately feel obliged to leave the employment. There are serious cutbacks at RTE. This is not exceptional; all Senators, including Senator Daly, reckon it is worth a line in the Evening Herald. However, the personalities, or celebrities - I do not know what you would call them - are on commercial contracts. I do not have the power to intrude in a commercial contract, but the director general has made plain that when they are up for revision, the profligate years will be over.