Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegation and thank them for their presentation. I was taken aback by some of what Mr. Collins had to say, in particular his belief that there is a particular confidence in the local radio sector based on their presentations to the authority. What we are hearing from the independent broadcasters is that they are struggling to maintain their current level of service. Mr. Collins stated that they are profitable, which in the main is true. However, much of this might be to do with their being smaller commercial operations that can right-size more quickly. I would argue that this is, in some instances, to the detriment of the audience. As these stations are commercial they have to get their costs down as soon as their revenues decrease, which results in the listener losing out in terms of coverage of sporting events, rural pursuits and various other local activities that previously local stations would have endeavoured to cover. To suggest that the solution to this is increased minutage is, in my view, not to recognise the commercial reality. It is effectively spreading the same amount of money across a greater number of minutes. The level of competition in the franchise area among various newspapers that are struggling, including some of the free sheets, is increasing because advertising is currently a stressed environment. I do not believe that increased minutage is the solution.

I acknowledge that given the authority's remit it is somewhat precluded from giving direction or its views on this issue. In an environment where there is an expected increase in revenues - if I am correct an increase of €30 million by way of changing from the licence fee to the broadcasting charge is expected - there exists the potential for an increased pool of money. I contend that the BAI or the Department or whomever will ultimately make the decision needs to look at the role of the local commercial stations in terms of the provision of public service broadcasting and content. I accept what has been said in relation to the availability of funding to these stations for specific projects. However, rural communities depend on daily coverage of sporting and local events. They see this as an important aspect of a public service offering. From that point of view, I would argue that there needs to be a recognition in this area in terms of financial allocation.

I was taken aback by the comment that a source of disappointment in the case of RTE is that its plan for 2013-2017 does not set out the clear sense of vision and ambition that might have been hoped for. It was also stated that the authority did not accept Crowe Harworth's position that RTE did not require any more money to meet its demands. Would it not have been better for either the authority or Department to have engaged with RTE to flesh out its vision to a greater extent before making a recommendation that it get more money? Should the notion of the decision of it getting more money be based on a fleshing out of its vision? I am not in this regard being critical of RTE and neither do I want to see a situation whereby an increase in funding to local stations would somehow disenfranchise RTE because I do not believe that would be helpful either.