Mr. Tim Collins:

There is probably unanimity between ourselves and RTE. Between eliminating evasion and avoidance and reducing collection costs, which are very high compared to other countries, perhaps about €30 million or €50 million is at play in terms of increased revenue.

As John Purcell said, that would provide for improving RTE's funding position as well as a fund. The fund we have looked for is somewhere between €12 million and €15 million which would go towards funding the 20%% news and current affairs portion of independent broadcasters. That can be done without any increase in the licence fee to households. It can be done just by eliminating evasion and avoidance and increasing collection costs. That fund is very feasible. There is also an alternative which is to revisit the sound and vision scheme. Currently, only 5% of the sound and vision scheme goes to independent radio broadcasters. The scheme was originally set up to benefit our sector but 95% of it goes to either television or to RTE or TG4. That fund could also be changed. However, the most viable approach is to set up a new separate fund.