Madam, – RTÉ’s performing groups, like so many others, have accepted the inevitability of pay cuts. In the case of its two orchestras and two choirs, these have been of the order of 5 per cent. However, is it not grossly unfair that the fifth group, the four members of the RTÉ Vanbrugh String Quartet, are to have their – presumably modest – stipend reduced by no less than 40 per cent? This, combined with a reduction of the contract offered to the quartet from three years to just one seems to me to be tantamount to constructive dismissal. The Vanbrugh has made an unparalleled contribution to musical life and education in Ireland over the past 24 years.
Furthermore, for over 50 years the only one of RTÉ’s professional music groups based outside of Dublin has been its quartet: how can our national broadcaster claim to fulfil its public service remit if these conditions result in the group’s demise? Recession or no, this is shabby stuff and one hopes that wiser counsel may prevail. – Yours, etc,