Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Forbes and Ms Cronin for their presentations.

Ms Forbes gave a comprehensive outline of the position. Most people accept and recognise the challenge. My party absolutely supports public service broadcasting and we have done that. When Ms Forbes appeared before the committee about three years ago she challenged us to look at the licence fee funding model. The committee did that under the guidance of the Chairman and we presented that report, which is widely accepted as a blueprint for the funding of public service broadcasting into the future.

At that time, we challenged Ms Forbes to bring forward a plan. In her statement today she said:

Ultimately, this encapsulates, the nub of the current position and what is at risk. The challenges being faced are a serious threat to the future of public service broadcasting.

The reality is that they are the same challenges that effectively existed three and a half years ago. While there was an iteration of a plan that was supposed to set RTÉ back on to an even keel, we now have another plan. Further land may be sold, the RTÉ Guidemay be sold and some art may also be sold. We are somewhat sceptical about what we are hearing. We had great belief in RTÉ when, three and a half years ago, it set out in a very direct way its desire to put a plan in place. What it has done to date has not worked. I do not put all that on Ms Forbes's shoulders. While this committee responded to her challenge, how the Government responded to that is another matter. I am on record over the Government failures in that regard. Is Ms Forbes happy with the level of transformation that has been achieved in her tenure?