Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The drop-off in people paying the television licence fee did not just happen by accident. It is a form of protest. Regardless of whether one agrees with them, people are having their say. It is a protest against the insider culture and unaccountability of the top brass in RTÉ. Even after the story broke and the public anger was clear, those at the top of RTÉ still did not get it. I remember watching as they were questioned by TDs. At one point, a senior executive interrupted a question to say it was not public money being discussed but money from commercial activity. In other words, he was saying "butt out". That told the whole story. The culture of entitlement ran deep and that perverse view is tacitly supported by the Government as it continues to exempt RTÉ from the oversight of the State auditor. I really want the Minister to address why RTÉ does not come under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General. When I asked the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, that question last week, he gave no concrete answer other than that there was no intention to do it. I am of the absolutely firm belief that where public money is being spent, there needs to be accountability. I think the Minister, Deputy Martin, will agree with me on that.

It is clear now that we have no alternative but to end the television licence fee. The general taxation system funds public services. Public broadcasting does not need a separate fee. It all comes from the pockets of the same hard-pressed families. The Government has spent months sending out mixed messages. The Minister knows that. She has said the money should come out of Exchequer funding but the Taoiseach is saying one thing and other Ministers are saying another. It is within the Minister's gift to bring all of this to a halt right now. We all agree on one thing, which is that the system is not fit for purpose. It is a question of when we make the change.

I offer one example of what is happening. My colleague Deputy Ellis was made aware of a case where a woman in a nursing home is being brought to court because she was too ill to pay her licence fee. The Minister has an opportunity to do something about this system that is not fit for purpose. The excuses the Government has come up with today are off the wall. We have shown clearly how we can have independence and how things can be done to address the system as it is. The one thing that is sure is that it has to be sorted. We can sort it now.

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