Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The rest of my prepared answer sought to deal with the Deputy's question. Section 124 of the Broadcasting Act requires the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, within three years of its enactment, namely, by the end of this year, to review the adequacy or otherwise of public funding to enable public service broadcasters to meet their public service objectives. In addition, section 158 requires the BAI to review the operation's effectiveness and the impact of the broadcasting funding scheme.

I understand the BAI intends to have those reports with me by the end of this year and it is my intention that the findings will be used to inform the review referred to in the programme for Government, which I confirm will be carried out by my Department.

I welcome contributions such as the Deputy made to the debate from wheresoever they may come. We live in changing times. A review is taking place separately within the Department of the efficacy of the licence collection system, with an attempt to measure the extent of evasion and gather understanding of the new platforms used in particular by young people who do not necessarily access television by means of a television screen. In that sense, one can see the notion of a universal household charge might be worth considering in the not so distant future. I have an open mind on this and the issue will be included in the review.

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