Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

RTÉ has announced that it will carry out a review of the operations of its orchestras. It currently operates the National Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, each of which consists of approximately 40 musicians. There has been a total of 25 vacancies in the orchestras in the past seven years and there are fears the number may rise to 40, the number required for one stand-alone orchestra. Voluntary exit packages have been offered to musicians who have left the employment of the orchestras and those who have left or retired have not been replaced. Is RTÉ winding down one of the orchestras? That is my concern and that of the Musicians Union of Ireland, MUI. If RTÉ attempts to do so, it will be breaking the provision outlined in the Broadcasting Act 2009 which calls on it to establish and maintain orchestras, not "orchestra" in the singular. Both orchestras have to be maintained in their current format and at their current numbers at the very least. They have had artistic importance since the 1940s in line with the importance of the national cultural institutions. I ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Heather Humphreys, and the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Denis Naughten, to protect the orchestras, realise the Taoiseach's commitment to double the funding for the arts and prevent RTÉ from merging or winding down the orchestras or operating two orchestras from a single pool of musicians. The National Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra are not interchangeable. They are national orchestras and should be facilitated in returning to education, outreach and national touring initiatives. Anything less than this cannot be considered if they are to be in any way "national". I think RTÉ is carrying out the review in the hope of reaching a certain result. It should instead act in the spirit of its own commercial slogans, "RTÉ: Supporting the Arts" and "Love your Orchestras".