Mr. Rory Coveney:

I thank the Deputy. On the Minister’s announcement yesterday, the issue of the licence receipts part-funding the cost of regulation has been coming for some time. We do not disagree with the ambition of the Minister which is to relieve the regulatory burden on broadcasters. We point out, however, that this provision will be a net cost to RTÉ and we will receive less licence fee funding on the back of it. We have not worked out the exact figure but it will be something in the region of €1 million.

On the broader issue of the licence fee, which was touched on by Dr. Carpenter, the licence fee is the subject of a substantial review at the moment and in the context of a reform of the licence fee system, this particular provision is not unwarranted. It needs, however, to be acknowledged that it will cost RTÉ money in the short term.

On the sound and vision scheme and whether the content should mirror its aims, it should not, if I am honest about it. It should be additional to those aims. There are slightly different views on this within the group of people who put the proposal together. In our view, it should focus on the creation of Irish intellectual property and should be about Irish writers, producers, directors and production companies producing things for the world and the types of content that will meet the needs of Irish audiences but that will also attract international investment and be exportable. Typically, the types of programming that do that are high-end TV drama, animation - which has a huge export role already - and to a lesser extent, feature documentary. A slightly different emphasis would be appropriate for this, so there is additionality rather than just enlarging an existing scheme.