Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will direct my first question to SIPTU and the members of the NUJ. I will say the following from a trade union perspective. The primary reason I am not including the others is that SIPTU has stated it represents the vast majority of workers in RTÉ and the NUJ represents journalists. I just cannot get my head around how RTÉ was allowed to misclassify so many workers, almost 700, over decades apparently and deny them their rights as workers and the unions appear to have done little or nothing. How did the two unions that represent most of the workers ever stand back and allow this to happen? We are talking about, I think, just under 700. There are possibly more. It has gone on for decades. It is a scandal. Workers were denied pension rights, holiday pay, maternity leave, sick pay, that is, everything to which any ordinary worker ought to be entitled. SIPTU and the NUJ are the unions. They are the people to whom the workers pay their union dues week in, week out. How, therefore, was a scandal such as this not tackled? To my mind, it came to the fore publicly primarily because of the whistleblowers and disclosures that were made. I cannot recall for one instant - I am happy to be contradicted - any massive union campaign calling RTÉ management to account. Can the representatives from SIPTU and the NUJ explain to the committee how workers' rights would be abused in such a way? From testimony the committee has heard and from speaking myself to staff members, they feel they have been ignored by the unions.