Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I hope the Chairman will indulge me, as I could not accept some of the comments that have been made and I believe I should have a right of reply. I am disappointed that the representatives of the BAI are persisting with the mantra of propping up RTE, which is basically what I hear. In recognising the role of the commercial operators, Mr. Collins stated that they are doing fairly well because they manage their affairs fairly well and operate within budgetary constraints. They do not have an insurance policy of knowing that the taxpayer can pony up an increase in the television licence fee when things start going pear shaped. They also do not have the luxury of operating in an environment where their presenters are being paid multiples of what the Head of the Government is paid. Recognition only goes so far. Recognising the public service remit of independent broadcasters is not worth the paper it is written on unless it is backed up by some sort of financial consideration for the work they do.

The witnesses rightly pointed to an anomalous situation with advertising at the moment. I believe their proposal for fixing that would make a bad situation even worse. It would result in everybody playing on the same advertising field, but the State broadcaster would have the continued insurance net regardless of the public service element of the commercial broadcasters.

I contend that RTE is a commercial entity because it aggressively seeks advertising in the market. RTE advertises its own advertising slots. I do not accept that it is in some way different from the other broadcasters. 2FM is struggling to keep up with the listenership of commercial radio stations, but yet it receives a substantial subsidy from the taxpayer to keep it going. The BAI should ask if continuing that represents value for money. People in its target age cohort have voted by turning the dial considerably away from that radio station.