Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the representatives of the independent broadcasters. All of the members present are from rural areas, which is no coincidence because of the service offered outside Dublin, especially in rural counties. I remarked on my local commercial station this morning that, prior to 1988, the only voices one heard on radio were Dublin voices. Until that year, one would certainly not have heard backbench Members, nor would one have heard an Opposition Deputy, unless he was Leader of the Opposition. With regard to public service, the case of the independent broadcasters has been well proved during the years by virtue of their listenership.

Regarding State revenue, I have questioned IBI's main competitor at numerous meetings of the committee about its commitment, even to reporting the proceedings of the Houses of the Oireachtas. I have said here before that unless a person has a sleeping ailment, works at night, has a child that will not go to sleep or is being turfed out of a pub at an ungodly hour, he or she does not see the proceedings of the Houses of the Oireachtas because RTE has decided to confine broadcasting them to insomniac's hour. Without the commercial radio stations around the country, people would not know what we do here. They would probably believe we did nothing. From that perspective, the IBI has proved its service.

With regard to section 108 and the opportunities the IBI envisages, the delegates' report states "IBI proposes that the Broadcasting Act should be amended to remove the commercial mandate under Section 108 and replace it with a limit on the commercial reach of the state broadcaster". It also states, "An examination should be undertaken to determine how efficiently the revenue from the Licence fee is utilised". Do the delegates have a figure in mind for the limit on the commercial reach? Do they have proposals in that regard?

When one turns on a digital television, one can tune in to hundreds or thousands of stations all over the world.

What impact does this have on commercial operators?

How might not-for-profit community radio stations be factored into any changes that our guests might envisage in the context of the legislation? The document presented to the committee makes reference to a fund to support public service broadcasting. The committee discussed that matter at length with the previous Minister and RTE in terms of the sound and vision fund. Will our guests expand on how they envisage the fund being used to provide the support in question?

I echo the comments made by the previous speaker in the context of the work done by the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland. There may be further opportunities for the commercial sector to show up the State broadcaster in terms of the deficiencies in its coverage of the democratic process at work in the Oireachtas.