Mr. Declan Gibbons:

I welcome Deputy Phelan's comments about the notion of ring-fencing. This is what CRAOL is seeking. We wish to ring-fence a share of the public service broadcasting charge. However, we are clear that this would be for community media as opposed to commercial media. That is the angle we are coming from. We do not aim to speak for anyone else in that regard.

Mr. Moore referred to regulation and ownership structures and so on. We have advertising restrictions that do not apply to the commercial sector. We have no aspirations to become the commercial sector. For example, community radio is entitled to six minutes of advertising per hour whereas commercial radio has ten minutes. CRAOL is not asking the committee to increase this such that we can compete with commercial radio. This is not what we want. We are clear about who we are and that we are community media. However, we are suggesting that we are of specific value to the community and we are keen for this to be reflected in reliable operational funding.

Reference was made to the mechanism of delivery. We have a good deal of experience working with the existing companies and this will apply to the local community development committees that are being set up. We have no issue with that. Similarly, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has considerable experience in administering the television licence fee as such and we have no issue with that. We see that as an administrative issue. It is more about ring-fencing a degree of funding. We are not after a chunk of a pie. We are after certainty for the future.