Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Secretary General has stated the TV licence fee model to fund broadcasting is broken. The figures back that up. The licence fee has remained the same at €160 since 2008. Population and household numbers have risen, but RTÉ's TV licence fee income has fallen by more than 10%.

Along with that, the figure for uncollected tax on TV sets exceeds RTÉ's annual losses. Mr. Colm McCarthy produced a piece on this earlier in the year in which he used similar language in speaking about the "broken" model, saying it was not fit for purpose, given the proliferation of media on which one could access content. What are the potential replacement models? A doubling of the licence fee has been looked at, but commercial revenue has also dropped this year and which has been attributed to the impact of Brexit. I have been talking to advertising executives and believe viewing patterns are also changing. People go home in the evening and watch Netflix. They are not even watching mainstream media. Advertising executives realise that their spot at 9.15 p.m., during the break in the RTÉ news programme, is not as valuable as it once was. As a consequence, they are going to lower the amount they spend and it becomes a race to the bottom. The commercial side could also end up being banjaxed.