Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There was an election as well and, in fact, every single count was broadcast live on RTE, which was some achievement. No other broadcaster in the world has done that. We all appreciated the provision of that particular service by RTE. As such, there was a great deal of additional expense on RTE. There is a challenge and it is not just one for RTE. I have met not only with RTE, but with the independent broadcasters and community radio stations. I am meeting with all the broadcasters across the spectrum to hear their views and issues in this regard. All of them face huge challenges at the moment because of problems with advertising, which has fallen off. Some of them have indicated that it has fallen off even further since the Brexit referendum because many advertising budgets are managed from the UK. That has implications.

To come back to the questions, I might start with my own mobile constituent, Senator McDowell. My focus is on those who are not paying any television licence, of whom there are many. My question is very simple. Do I ask those who are compliant to pay more to subsidise those who pay no licence fee or do we try to ensure that the law that is there is enforced? It is the law of the land. I could go for the soft option, as Deputy Stanley said, of a broadcasting charge and apply it to every single home, but it will be the same people who are paying again and cross-subsidising those who want everything but are prepared to pay for nothing. We are all sick and tired of this happening. Deputy Stanley has given examples of people who do not have a television. Should they have to pay for the service if they do not have a television? The difficulty at the moment is that approximately 8% of homes in Ireland do not have a television or claim they do not. That is not tenable nor do I believe it is actually the case. The level of evasion in relation to the television licence here is 14%. Across the water in the UK, it is actually 7%. That is money that should be invested in public service broadcasting across the board. Without it, our broadcasters are facing very significant challenges.

We are looking at a number of areas in relation to this. It is not just the television licence and compliance with the existing law. There are opt-out channels in relation to broadcasters coming in from abroad. There may be an implication on foot of Brexit, which is something we are looking into at the moment. Back in the 1980s, the legislation allowed for the cable carriers to carry RTE and, subsequently, TG4 and TV3 free of charge. The idea behind that at the time was to encourage and support the roll-out of the cable network. Do we need that today in an era where we are bringing fibre to the doors of homes across the country? Those are the types of thing we are looking at that could bring additional income into the public service broadcasting area. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland made the point in its report that the television licence fee should increase in line with inflation. As members know, inflation has been at 0% for the past few years, which is why we are not looking at an increase in the licence fee itself. Deputy Stanley asked me about the other 54% of the television licence fee. The reference to 46% of the fee was to the percentage of the total amount we project to come in for the year which had come in by the end of June. It is 46% out of 50% rather than 46% out of 100%. It is pretty much in line with profile.