Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This debate has run around the licence fee itself. Has the Minister considered the asset space of RTE, what it owns, where it owns it and the most suitable location for a national broadcaster to be based? Has he taken the wage structure in RTE into consideration? The top ten broadcasters are probably earning twice the amount earned by the Taoiseach so there are issues about the body itself. We are talking about squeezing the assets, the wage structure and the licence fee. All these things need to be brought together because when the general public hears what major broadcasters are earning when it might be hit with another licence fee increase, which I am happy the Minister has ruled out, that is a significant issue that needs to be put to bed.