Ms Tríona Quill:

As regards where we go now, the Government has set up the future of media commission. It is looking at a range of issues, including the future funding model that will be used to fund public service media into the future. Among the options it will consider will be a replacement of the licence fee. It is important to have that in context when looking at the current evasion rate.

Regarding why it costs so much to collect the licence fee in Ireland, it is true that a system that is based on television licence inspectors going from house to house is quite an expensive model. It is the right thing for us to look to the future to see if alternatives to the licence fee are available. There is no doubt that An Post has made changes in recent years around working weekends, working evenings and so on, to try to improve the evasion rate. Realistically, looking to the future, any model that is based on door-to-door inspections will never be the optimum or most efficient model available.