Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to hear that RTÉ is not seeking an increase in the television licence fee because it would be unfair to those households that are paying, particularly the low-income households. I know the fee is collected by the Department and collection is contracted out to An Post. Is RTÉ in favour of improving the database? I have suggested this a number of times over the years.

I have suggested improving the database by having registration at the point where people would be connected to a service by the companies, such as Vodafone, that provide television signals. The same thing could happen when a television is purchased. When someone purchases a car, it is necessary to register to pay motor tax and the purchaser becomes the registered owner at that stage. The same thing could happen when people sign up with a television signal provider. The database would be improved by using that method, although I am not saying such an approach would solve all the problems. Would such measures give us a comprehensive database and would RTÉ favour such an approach as a way of spreading the load?