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

On wages and salaries, RTE has reduced its operating cost by 30%, staff cost by 25% and staff numbers by 21%. That is 500 people between 2008 and 2013. Since December 2015 pay restoration has begun at the broadcaster, beginning with the lowest paid workers. Individual contracts are a matter for the company itself and not a matter that I, as Minister for Communication, Climate Action and Environment, can get involved in.

It is not my intention or plan, as I have said here before, to increase the television licence fee. I have made that crystal clear to RTE. There are opportunities there where people are not paying for the service and expect everyone else to pay for it. If we increase the TV licence fee the people who pay for everything and get nothing are the ones who are going to have to pay again for this and the people who are prepared to pay for nothing will get away with it again. We will bring forward legislation in the coming weeks which will be brought before the committee at the heads of Bill stage for its views on it. We hope to be able to allow me, as Minister, to seek a tender for the TV licence inspection regime. It is my intention that local post offices will still sell the TV licence and people will still be able to purchase one in them.

An Post currently holds the contract in regard to television licence inspection. Under the existing legislation, I cannot put that out to tender but I am seeking the flexibility to allow me to do so. An Post may bid for the new contract, as might others. I do not know at this stage who might be interested in it. We have issued an expression of interest notice. As I said, I do not have the power or the authority to put that contract to tender. There is a significant scale of evasion - €40 million is a substantial amount of money. As I said earlier, there has been a significant fall-off in advertising. There is now more money being spent on advertising in the digital market than on terrestrial television. This is a growing trend. If we want to have quality programming and news and current affairs on our terrestrial channels, then we will have to pay for it. We need that in a functioning democracy.