Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response.

The Minister is correct that the sound and vision fund represents 7% of the total licence fee. However, half of that 7% went to RTE and TG4 last year, which increased the amount going into that area to well over €180 million, with less than half of it available to all broadcasters across the country, commercial, community and everybody else. The sound and vision fund is currently wholly inadequate in terms of the amount available to those who are not protected under the €179 million that RTE gets.

This is not an anti-RTE thing. What I want is fair play. I welcome the fact that the Minister is going to look at the amount of advertising minutes allowed because it is something which has been raised with us continuously in terms of fairness and the level of the playing field. Contrasting, for argument's sake, RTE's situation with that of the BBC, there is no advertising in the BBC. I know there is a smaller population base here and that the licence fee base is smaller, although the level of expectation in terms of the service is the same. That level of service is the same for every commercial radio station as well. The commercial stations are competing against RTE in a very competitive market, while RTE has a cushion of €180 million.

It is not beyond reason that we start a national conversation. I do not know what the great panacea for the future of broadcasting will be, but there is a discerning market. The joint national listenership research, JNLR, figures show that the public has moved away - across all age profiles and in the tens of thousands - from the traditional, established radio and television stations of RTE and towards a different market. Those who are paying their €160 a year have a right to know that what we regard as public service broadcasting is properly funded. Whether the news is on a commercial station or a publicly-owned station, it is still a public service. I am asking that we start a conversation, using the Oireachtas committee to lay out a definition for 2015 of what we expect our public service broadcasters to do in return for what is a substantial amount of money.

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