Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I can do it now as it will not take much time. I suspect the Minister will not accept it. However, I want to make a point. Section 124, which the Minister claims caters for what I am trying to provide in amendment No. 89, does not really deal with it. There is more than a subtle difference between the two. Section 124(8) states: "The Authority shall within a period of not more than 3 years after the passing of this Act, and every 5 years thereafter, or as directed by the Minister, carry out a review of the adequacy or otherwise, of public funding to enable a corporation to meet its public service objects." That basically calls for a review of whether RTE is getting enough public money to ensure that public service broadcasting can continue. I am asking that on a three-yearly basis or whenever the Minister requests, we would get a report from the broadcasting authority - not RTE - outlining what funding arrangements are in place for public service broadcasting in other EU states. This would allow us to analyse the trends in public service broadcasting, how it is funded and how that funding is collected and channelled. We will come to that later when we deal with that section. Amendment No. 89 provides that the report will have particular reference to: the amount of subsidy; the percentages of total revenue made up by subsidy and commercial revenue; and the arrangements in place to ensure fair commercial activity in the market place, which is the kind of thing about which Deputy McManus spoke earlier. That is quite a different report from one analysing whether RTE and TG4 are getting adequate funding.

Section 124 does not deal with what I propose in amendment No. 89. It would be very useful for the Minister and his successors to review best practice elsewhere in Europe to ensure that our funding mechanisms are correct and that we have the right balance between commercial activity in the broadcasting sector and a very proactive policy in terms of public service broadcasting.

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