Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for appearing before us. Collectively, they have given a great insight into the challenges involved in the broadcasting Bill, for example, the new broadcasting charge and where funding should be prioritised. There is a diversity of media activity involved, so I might address that along the lines of the groups that are presenting, starting with CRAOL.

A great deal of work is being done at community level. Some community radio stations were not able to continue operating due to funding difficulties. We are dealing with the broadcasting Bill predominantly, but how does CRAOL acces funds through Pobal? There is a pot of money under the Bill. How are we going to get the best out of it? The same question arises for Dublin Community Television and Irish TV. We need the Bill to be all-encompassing. Heretofore, a small percentage of the licence fee went to independent operators. We hope that the committee's deliberations on the Bill will be taken into consideration. It should not just cover the national broadcaster, but also community and independent radio and television stations.

I take the point about Saorview. It is something that we need to pursue as a committee. Given the presentations, it seems that the pot of money must be considered carefully. If the Bill is to decide on how it is divided up, we must ensure that a certain amount is made available at community and local levels. There is a pile of artistic activity and so on that is not being given a forum. Organisations must build up expertise. For example, the national broadcaster has been successful since its infancy and has seen the involvement of many fine people and programmes.

The language used by our guests indicates that we must be careful, as this Bill will determine how all broadcasters will fit into the system for the next 15 to 20 years or longer. Broadcasting is progressing at a considerable pace. We will try to include the points made by our guests in any of our deliberations on the Bill.