Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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Why is the authority requesting the money now? I have concerns as it would be another slice taken from the licence fee. The copyright changes would be good as companies broadcast material without having to clear copyright.

The Department indicated the evasion rate in Britain fell after the BBC engaged commercial operators to collect fees. I have a concern about people like the Viper or people like him showing up at people's doors to collect money. I am not arguing that the An Post system does not need to be fixed and I can see the problems in it. I am concerned about some of the people who might tender for the contract to collect this money or the methods they might use on dark winter evenings, knocking on the doors of single parents to collect fees. This feeds back into my earlier point in that we might be looking at this the wrong way around. If we are looking at putting licence fee collection to a free-for-all, I would have concerns about it. Over what period did the evasion rate in Britain decrease? Were complaints procedures put in place if there was dissatisfaction with a company or contractor?

The retransmission fee and copyright changes must be the centrepiece of this process. I agree with Deputy Dooley about the fee. As I look more at this and how the sector it works, I can see it as an emerging gap in revenue for those who produce good quality broadcasting and new programming. Overall, we have a major responsibility with this Bill as we have reached a crunch point. This cannot be allowed to go on much longer. Like many other matters, the can has been kicked down the road. At this stage the can is fairly well battered. We need to sort this out. We should be a bit more careful with language and try to speak about people, as opposed to consumers.