Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is absolutely shocking that the Minister has come in here today and called Sinn Féin's proposal "premature". She said she feels there is a need for some serious consideration of the proposals before there is action. I will just give the Minister and the Government a small bit of history.

This has been discussed for ten years. For ten years it has been recognised that the TV licence was out of date. The Minister said it today in her speech. The Taoiseach has said it. Everyone has said it. In 2013 we saw the publication of recommendations on the future funding of public service broadcasting. In 2016 the public funding review of public sector broadcasting was submitted to the BAI. In 2019 the report of the working group on the future of funding public sector broadcasting was published.

The Minister has had two and a half years to review the Future of Media Commission report. This is a detailed report by experts that was commissioned and was comprehensive. There is no excuse for the Minister to come in here and to say our proposal is premature when Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil had ten years. What action was taken? Sinn Féin is bringing forward solutions tonight. This Government is scared to act and we know why. We continue to ignore these reports. It is costing millions when you look at the wastage in RTÉ. To give the Minister something to think about, this report on the future of media cost €240,000. It has been sitting on her desk for two and a half years. Mother of God, we must be burning the money. It would be easier to burn it than to do any more reports, one after another. It is insulting to ordinary working people and families because there is a cost-of-living crisis.

The Government talks about all the people who paid the licence fee. Does it know how hard that is for a lot of those people and families? Most of all, the Government is insulting them by not doing its job. It was given this job to do but it is not doing it. The Taoiseach came in today and responded to me by saying this was comical. Is it funny to him that thousands of people - 13,000 last year - were dragged through the courts? Is it funny for him that people are getting a criminal record because they cannot afford to pay the TV licence? That is this Government's attitude. Was the Government giggling in Government Buildings when it got another expert report and did nothing with it? This Government's amendment is not complex; it is to kick the can down the road. It is as simple as this, and Deputy Doherty said it. The Taoiseach and Tánaiste are telling the Green Party they will bring in a household charge after the European, local and general elections. The Green Party is not strong enough to stand up to them.

See this speech in context