Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I listened to the Minister's speech with interest. I believe she is aware there is a huge level of public anger in her constituency and mine about RTÉ. People on six-figure salaries are flouncing and swanning around and refusing to come before a committee while at the same time, ordinary people are being prosecuted and dragged into court for not paying their TV licence. It is all at what cost? It is all while RTÉ carries on with its casino culture of pet projects, golden handshakes, cosy chats, nods and notes, winks and deals and cards and parks. It is all while hardworking, well respected journalists are barely getting by and women found it difficult to even sort out their maternity leave. It is an absolute disgrace. I cite the great work done by Martin McMahon on the issue of bogus self-employment, which is a major issue for RTÉ. This work must be addressed by the State and in public because there were serious public actions using serious public funds.

Despite all this, it is shocking that the Government wants to persist with business as usual and prosecuting people for not paying their TV licence. I know the Minister does not agree with that because she basically said so. It is peevish and unnecessary. Right now, 60 people a day are being prosecuted. They are jamming up the courts and wasting court resources. Justice is delayed for everybody else, while people are voting with their feet regarding the TV licence. I was talking about this on my local radio station this morning, Kfm. Kfm does outstanding public service broadcasting and provides real community service, even if that meant losing a sponsorship over a local nursing home where it covered the HIQA report and the nursing home contacted it to say it would withdraw its advertisements. This is what we need, namely, broadcasting we can trust amidst so much misinformation and disinformation. Will the Minister stop flogging a dead horse and get rid of the TV licence?

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