Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

While I am responsible as Minister for these issues in the first instance, they touch on the legislation that is in place. For that reason, a legislative amendment would be required if we were to go down the road being suggested, or at least being suggested for discussion, by the Deputy. I have to say I have some sympathy with the point he has made about radio. As a former radio producer, I fully appreciate the importance of radio, particularly local radio, in the area of news and current affairs and in the area of programming generally. Radio makes a critically important contribution to social and community life in urban and rural areas across the country.

Given that one can achieve so much more bang for one's buck with radio programming, it is sometimes frustrating for people who work in radio to see the huge amounts of money that seem to be spent in the public and private sectors on the production of television programming. That is the point I would make, with the indulgence of the Chair, about the public and private approaches to what radio can do and can achieve. The consideration by any Government of a transfer of public funding to private commercial operators would not be not without controversy and should therefore be given serious consideration by the Oireachtas. At the very minimum, a considerable debate about the circumstances in which we might want to take the licence fee and distribute it across the board to commercial operators would have to take place in this House. We would need to have regard to the likely impact that would have on public service broadcasters and public service broadcasting. It is natural that the withdrawal of resources from public service broadcasting will have an impact.

I understand the issues raised by the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland and the various radio stations around the country, many of which have suffered greatly as a result of the impact of the recession. I want to see this sector thriving. It is very much part of my thinking to ensure it grows and thrives, but not at the expense of the public sector. We should be able to configure our funding arrangements and our regulatory system, in relation to advertising minutage and so on, in a way that ensures we do not seek to improve one sector by taking resources away from another sector. I will be quite happy to return to this issue with the Deputy and with others in this House. I reiterate that it is extremely important for us to support broadcasting generally and ensure both the public and private sectors can survive and thrive into the future.

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