Sir, – Talk of selling the site RTÉ is based at in Montrose in Dublin is very premature and cannot be considered without answering the question as to how much it will cost to relocate to similar facilities elsewhere. Where will they go? How much will that cost?
Especially as any land which might be considered is likely to rocket in price.
Note that I don’t say “value”.
Simply selling off the family silver without first fixing the family’s spending problems won’t solve anything. – Yours, etc,
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DAVID DORAN,
Bagenalstown,
Co Carlow.
Sir, – Our Dáil committees have shown great acuity and incisiveness interrogating RTÉ and that is how it should be. You do have to hand it to the politicians – they can turn their hand to anything. Turns out they’re a talented bunch.
RTÉ's news and journalistic staff have interrogated RTÉ management without fear or favour throughout this sorry saga and that is something no one should overlook. By and large, RTÉ's staff have interrogated their employer assiduously, fearlessly and thoroughly. It is an important thing for us to notice.
RTÉ is in shambles. Its management obviously has some corporate governance skeletons crammed and rattling in its closet. But the “staff” have demonstrated RTÉ's worth and value in abundance since the mushroom cloud appeared – and they should certainly be protected from the fallout. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL DEASY,
Bandon,
Co Cork.
Sir, – While there are surely reforms to implement in RTÉ, one cannot but question whether our Government is using this opportunity to dismantle our national broadcaster?
Whatever “warts and all” are associated with how RTÉ has been run of late, the standards of public broadcasting in areas of news and public affairs remain very high. One need only look toward the well-documented low quality of public broadcasting across many European countries, the bogus and propaganda-based public broadcasting across countless totalitarian states, and the debacle of decentralising the BBC to realise how far public broadcasting can really fall.
With RTÉ losing millions of euro because of lack of licence fee payments at a time when the Government is awash with cash, the issue seems not to be one of affordability but how we value public broadcasting. Seemingly, not very highly. We may be in danger of throwing out the baby with the bath water in the name of “reforms”. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN NOLAN,
Dublin 16.