Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 18 January 2023
Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media
Future of the Media Sector: Discussion
Mr. Ciaran Murray:
I will make a general point. Forgive my naivety, as it is probably more than ten years since I last attended one of these meetings, but we made a submission when Mr. Pat Rabbitte was the Minister. This dates back to the water rates phase, which was stinging for people who stood for election. We proposed that there could be a small decrease in the television licence fee alongside the household charge, as mentioned by Deputy Carty. This would have incentivised the 16% of no-television households to believe in a public service charge. A large campaign could have been run to incentivise the people who did not pay the licence fee to believe that Irish language broadcasting was an integral part of our identity, democracy and culture. This would not have been as divisive as the water charges. However, nothing has changed in the years since we wrote that submission when Mr. Rabbitte was Minister and the matter is still a sensitive one. Forgive my naivety for raising it in this manner, but it seems that it is still there to be addressed.
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