Last Wednesday's meeting in the RTE canteen on the licence fee increase row lasted just half-an-hour. Despite media reports, nobody stormed the barricades of Montrose and nobody resigned from the national broadcasting organisation.
Resignation is not an answer to anything.
It was an impromptu meeting called in the space of just over an hour. Never in my 20 or so years in RTE has there been such a gathering.
But a week on from it, at least one positive thing has resulted. The debate about the future of RTE and public service broadcasting is finally under way.
Just over 30 years ago, a different generation of broadcasters, including people like Lelia Doolan and Joe Dowling, held a series of meetings in the RTE canteen in what became known as the days of "sit down and be counted". That generation of broadcasters apparently stood on the canteen tables and debated and discussed the fundamental direction of programming at the time.
Some people in RTE still talk glowingly about that golden era of broadcasting and the great debates that followed those previous canteen gatherings. Perhaps the present-day workforce in RTE should have held their own version of the sit down and be counted debates.
The discussion about the direction and funding of public service broadcasting in this country is long overdue. If we don't wake up soon Rupert Murdoch and Sir Anthony O'Reilly will control everything between them.
To state the obvious: the RTE workforce is not happy with the £14.50 increase. We were told by management an increase of around £50 was necessary if the station was to keep its head above water and also compete in the digital age.
It's not the RTE workers who need to be convinced that a figure of around £50 is necessary, but the Government, the opposition parties and, most importantly, the public.
When I stood on the chair in the RTE canteen last week, I was nervous. I'd have preferred to be doing a live report for the Six One News. By holding such meetings you run the risk of being misrepresented.
The first people to engage in this debate must be the RTE workforce. Like other semi-state bodies, we have now got the wake-up call.
Most of the people who work in Montrose know we have to adapt. Many people have already done so. But change must be seen to be taking place right across the spectrum of RTE from management down.
We also know more needs to be done in the area of public accountability. As a reporter who spent much of the past few years asking awkward questions of others, I think it not unreasonable to expect others to ask difficult and probing questions of us.
For instance, we have done ourselves no favours over the years by refusing to say what our stars are paid. We hid behind the most lame of excuses, commercial secrecy. Recently, however, the RTE Director General, Bob Collins, in his submission to the Oireachtas Committee on Broadcasting, agreed to change that policy.
I for one welcome the day when the salaries of the top broadcasters are published. Assuming that the reports of their salaries are even half-true, I don't begrudge what Pat Kenny, Gerry Ryan or Marian Finucane receive - they do a good job for the station. I hope it compares favourably with what Eamon Dunphy receives for both his radio and TV work in the commercial sector.
In the early 1980s I was one of those who spoke in favour of commercial competition. We have, and should have, nothing to fear from competition.
Headlines over the past few days have suggested that some of the top broadcasters will leave RTE because of the licence fee row with the Minister. I can't see that happening.
The reality is that in an era of competition we in RTE have to get our act together and be prepared to stand up and fight for public service broadcasting.
Over the past few days many newspaper commentators spoke about the need for change in RTE. Indeed, many of these comments were made on RTE programmes. The reason these people were able to do so is simple: RTE is a public institution. They don't talk as freely about change in their own organisations and publications, most of which are in private hands and with one simple goal - making profits for their owners.
But that aside, in the year 2001, with the digital revolution already at hand, it is important that we have constructive debate about the future of public service broadcasting. There is a view among some people that the Montrose or the Dublin Four set are not willing to listen. I've yet to meet the Dublin Four set.
RTE is a microcosm of society. The workforce comes from every county in Ireland, from every crossroads and parish in the land. Does anybody really believe that people such as Jimmy Magee, Micheal O Muircheartaigh, Joe Duffy, or my colleague in the West of Ireland, Jim Fahy, just to mention a few, are part of some Dublin Four mindset which is divorced from the realities of the world outside Dublin Four?
We in RTE need to change, to adapt and develop new programming. But the baby doesn't have to be thrown out with the bath water. In radio, RTE has a proud tradition of 75 years of public service broadcasting. In television, the record is somewhat shorter but nonetheless every bit as good.
What we need now is to define what public service broadcasting is about for the next generation of viewers and listeners. For those of us who work in RTE, our row should not be with Sile de Valera or any minister for communications.
There has always been a healthy and robust relationship between the broadcaster and the government of the day. But if the RTE workforce is prepared to change, we need to know what the political establishment thinks of us and our public service remit.
I, for one, would also like to know the RTE Authority's views in this debate. After all, they have been charged with the responsibility of watching or governing us on behalf of the people. But the most important sector we need to hear from is the public itself - the consumers.
It might be cheeky to liken RTE to the family silver. But in any healthy democracy it is important that we have a vibrant media and surely public service broadcasting is an integral part of a healthy fourth estate.
As I said at the outset, last week I felt somewhat nervous standing on the chair in the RTE canteen. Today, despite all the doom and gloom over RTE, I don't feel quite so uneasy. The debate has started and we must make sure it isn't just a silly season topic.
Charlie Bird is Chief News Correspondent with RTE News. The views expressed here are his own