Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

The Minister is still in denial; he has been in denial from the beginning of the debate on this issue. The Minister knows that the way to organise efficiencies is to have one regulator to replace ComReg and the Broadcasting Authority. We now have a broadcasting authority with a budget of €7.6 million. That is the reality. Nothing else matters and nothing the Minister says in honeyed words about every effort being made changes that. The budget is a burden borne by broadcasters who are currently in difficulty. That is the Minister's responsibility.

There was a hidden cost in the last three months of last year. How much is that cost and who will pay it? The Exchequer stopped paying as soon as the new authority was established on 1 October. Who has paid the bills since then? How will they be met if they are based on borrowing?

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