Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If we really wanted to sort out RTÉ and the problems RTÉ and public sector broadcasting faces, we would accept the recommendation by the Future of Media Commission that RTÉ and public service broadcasting should be funded by the central Exchequer. It is not just RTÉ that is waiting for the Government to stop faffing around, it is an entire industry that ranges from cottage production companies to the big ten companies that get the overwhelming majority of commissions by RTÉ. Those are people's jobs, people's livelihoods.

The 2017 Olsberg report estimated there are about 10,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the sector. That was in 2017 or 2018. That figure would have undoubtedly increased over the past six years, so they are people's jobs, people's industry and people's small to medium-sized enterprises and companies. The Tánaiste wants the Revenue Commissioner to collect the TV licence fee. The Minister for Finance wants to keep the TV licence. What planet are they on? The ship has sailed on the TV licence. It could take a year to reform the TV licence.

That is a question I want to ask the RTÉ director general. What would a year mean? I know what it would mean. It would mean more people not paying their TV licence and another bailout for RTÉ. I do not know what the Government's problem with central Exchequer funding for RTÉ is.

The Government is already giving RTÉ €70 million through the household benefits scheme. We are giving a top-up of €10 million. We gave a bailout of €56 million this year, and there were bailouts last year. The idea that general taxation is not already funding RTÉ is insane. The proposal by the Future of Media Commission is that RTÉ and public service broadcasters would be funded through central Exchequer funding. It is the cleanest and easiest way. It is the most sensible solution. It is also the least difficult solution to this problem. It is not difficult. Norway already does it. As my colleague, Deputy Gould, said yesterday in the Dáil, the Government may as well be burning the money it spent on the Future of Media Commission if it does not accept the primary recommendation. We should scrap the TV licence and replace it with general Exchequer funding. We should put the necessary protections in place to support independence. That should also be supported by a robust regulator, which we have, and multi-annual funding as well.

TG4 is funded in this way so I do not see the problem. The reforms that we need to see, and that we have heard about today from the chair of RTÉ in her opening statement, are all undermined by the Government's refusal and failure to act. It is as if it has no hand, act or part in the failures facing RTÉ. That is the impression I get having listened to some members of Government parties here today.

The TV licence, the supporting legislation and the collection methods all need to go. They need to be scrapped. They are no longer fit for purpose. I would welcome any comment the director general has to make about the continued failure by the Government to deal with the TV licence. Then I will come to Mr. Bakhurst's plan in terms of the new direction for RTÉ.