"We are growers rather than cutters," said the chairman-designate of the RTE Authority, Mr Paddy Wright, when he was introduced to the media yesterday.
He was asked if his business background in the Jefferson Smurfit Group meant a hard-headed pruner of costs and jobs was being brought in to head an organisation already facing job cuts in the next two years.
"Not really," he said. "We [Smurfit] don't pare that many jobs. I like to grow things."
He retires from his job as president and chief operations officer of the Jefferson Smurfit Group at the end of the month. On June 1st he will become chairman of a new RTE Authority. In the meantime he will be a member of the authority.
Mr Wright says he has not seen the report on which the proposed job cuts are based. When he sees it, he "will discuss it with the people involved". Asked about his ambitions, he said: "I would like to leave some sort of mark behind but it is too early to say what that will be."
He thinks the mark might be in the area of digital television.
He is full of praise for the station.
"As a television addict I believe Telefis Eireann is a very good operator," he declared.
The chairman of the authority is Prof Farrel Corcoran. Mr Wright said: Obviously I will work closely with him in the next couple of months to bed myself in there and hopefully in June I will hit the ground running."