Mr. Declan Gibbons:

There are 22 fully licensed community stations, of which 14 are funded under the community services programme, CSP, by Pobal. To be clear, Pobal only supports employment, not the other operations that are necessary. We view the public service broadcasting charge as providing something that will fund operations.

A major issue is the fact that the CSP is closed to new entrants. I am from one of the stations that is already being funded. The programme is positive. With the emergence of the new charge, there might be a clearer means of reporting. Instead of the form of reporting that we provide to Pobal each year, we would be like the national public service broadcaster, RTE, in that we would set out for the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, the series of services that we would deliver for the duration of a licence. In return, we would receive X amount.