Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and welcome our witnesses here today and thank them for their time. I will move straight to my questions as we are limited in time and this is a great opportunity for us as members to listen to our witnesses’ contributions and not for us to over-elaborate.

I will put my first question to RTÉ on the Minister’s proposals on the broadcasting functions of the media commission and that it would be part-funded to a maximum of 50% from the television licence receipts. We are well aware that the licence grants to RTÉ are substantial. They were €196 million in 2019 and account for 50% of its overall revenue for the financial year. What is RTÉ’s position and views on this and on the funding schemes? Should the content levy be based on a similar model to the sound and vision scheme? What would RTÉ like to see here and what improvements could be made to the model of funding?

I have a question for Mr. Esslemont of TG4, given TG4’s responsibilities to Irish language broadcasting. Does there need to be a resource within the new media commission to enable this to work and to promote the Irish language within it?

Finally, I ask Dr. Carpenter of Sky a quick question on the investment obligations, the advantages and the disadvantages for the media providers, and where he sees this within the Bill. How does he envisage the use of the investment obligations in place of content levies? I thank the Chairman.