Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Anybody already paying the television licence fee has nothing to fear. If we do manage to bring in additional revenue, we might even be able to decrease the charge. I am sure that would be applauded by Members on the benches opposite.

I understand some 7.5% of licence fee revenue goes to the Sound and Vision fund and some €10 million to TG4. I acknowledge that some of the independent broadcasters provide important public service content. During yesterday's Topical Issue debate I noted that RTE is projecting a bottom line deficit for the end of the year of some €50 million. That is an enormous sum and is clearly not sustainable. The legal impositions on RTE in terms of aspiring to deliver a quality public broadcasting service are severe. In addition, there are serious challenges confronting it as a consequence of the collapse of advertising and the level of evasion of the television licence fee. We are proceeding with our review, but the process is more complicated than one might imagine. When the day comes that we know exactly how many houses there are in this country and where they are located, it will be a major breakthrough. We are working on that. When we know exactly how many houses there are in the State, and where they are, it will be a major breakthrough.

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