Mr. Aidan Dunning:

It is not an additional charge. One of the major issues that prompted that is the progression in technology. While what we may call the conventional television set as a way to access content is still very important there are other ways of accessing content, and they are not covered by legislation, whether through smart phones or personal computers, PCs. PCs are covered but some of the other technologies would not be covered. We have to examine that but we also must examine how we can be sure that the base we would have in place in terms of households is sufficiently adequate to ensure a commensurate amount of revenue. The work is proceeding on that and on other aspects of it also.

The value for money study is just about completed. It will be submitted to the Minister in a very short period. I hope it will go to Government within weeks. It must be borne in mind that we will require legislation to do this. It could be complex legislation, and there will also be a transitional period between the introduction of the new public service broadcasting charge and the phasing out of the licence fee. It is crucial that we do not leave a situation where the Revenue Commissioners are exposed in terms of the revenue we have at the disposal of public sector broadcasting.