Ms Dee Forbes:

To be clear, we are not at all suggesting any increase in the licence fee. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Any increase in the licence fee would be totally unfair to those who are paying it. We are saying the failure of the collection system, which is a combination of people evading payment of the fee along with the people who are claiming not to have a television, is bleeding €65 million. If that money was collected, there would be ample money in the current system to discuss the funds we are looking for or that the BAI recommended we should get some years ago. We are not saying the licence fee should be increased. We are saying the system should be reformed to avail of that bucket of money that should be available to the wider sector. That would not only be to RTÉ, which gets the fast majority of the licence fee revenue, but a big percentage goes into the BAI sound and vision fund to which broadcasters and radio projects can apply for funding for more content. It is a very important generator of Irish content. If the system was reformed, there would be money in the system with which to do other things. That is the point. We are not looking for an increase in the fee.