Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 10 December 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Future Funding of Public Service Broadcasting: Discussion

Ms Dee Forbes:

As the Deputy has pointed out, a lot has happened and is happening. There is no doubt but that morale is low because there is so much uncertainty. This uncertainty has been around for a while, to be honest with the Deputy, because the industry is going through huge change. We have been adapting ourselves to reduce our costs, reshape ourselves and restructure ourselves. At the same time we have been looking to shore up our commercial revenue but nothing has happened with public funding. We are therefore in a very difficult position in that regard and, to be very honest with the Deputy, we will be in that position until we get further confirmation on the future because we cannot plan. Half our funding is under considerable vulnerability on a month-by-month basis. We are seeing returns from the licence fee go down month on month and we do not know the position until that month's returns have come in. We desperately-----