Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We should not have any further delay in reform of the licence fee and funding for RTÉ. This is for the future of RTÉ. The Government has dithered on this and cannot seem to reach an agreement. Sinn Féin's motion proposes an end to the licence fee model to be replaced with direct Exchequer funding for sustainable public sector broadcasting. RTÉ has already been given ad hocbailouts without it being put on an accountable or properly sustainable basis. The financial scandals at RTÉ over the last 12 months have followed years of financial uncertainty.

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Public trust and confidence in our national broadcaster is, unfortunately, at an all-time low. We must restore that trust and confidence because we need public sector broadcasting, not just by RTÉ but also across the regional stations. It is important that we do so.

More than 13,000 people, a staggering number, were brought before the courts last year for non-payment of the licence fee. Millions of euro are being lost every year in the gap between people who are and are not paying. The current system is broken and we need to rebuild trust. Sinn Féin is calling, crucially, for RTÉ to be audited annually by the Comptroller and Auditor General and to be fully accountable to the Committee of Public Accounts. We have had enough of poor governance, appalling oversight and appalling mismanagement of finances at RTÉ. It is essential that we undertake this reform. If RTÉ is to continue as a semi-commercial organisation, it needs to start behaving like one. It must increase its commercial revenue with proper oversight and management of it.

In calling for the scrapping of the television licence fee, we are proposing that public service broadcasting be directly funded, including local, regional and independent broadcasters, in respect of their content that is deemed to be public sector broadcasting. Norway and many other European countries have moved in a similar direction. Crucially, this change is in line with the recommendations of the independent media commission in 2020. The Minister commissioned that report and it has just been sitting there. All we see is disagreement on it within the Government, with Ministers talking in three or four different directions.

We are proposing a fairer system. Funding public service broadcasting from general taxation will ensure everyone pays, with those on the highest incomes contributing the most as with any other public service. There has been enough delay by the Government. Sinn Féin is calling on Members to support our proposals to abolish the licence fee, put an accountable system in place and ensure we have a directly funded, neutral and independent public sector broadcasting system.

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