Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Bill I referred to the committee is the broadcasting (amendment) Bill. One of its provisions is to amend section 145 of the primary Act to deal with evasion. On the legal advice received from the Office of the Attorney General, it is clear that the current legislation does not allow me as Minister to appoint a television licence agent by way of public tender. The amendment to section 145 in the broadcasting (amendment) Bill, as currently before the committee, allows me to rectify that. There are also amendments to sections 33 and 123, specifically dealing with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, levy which would allow for the allocation of funding to the BAI from the television licence receipts to meet its operating expenses. That would allow the BAI to reduce, by a maximum of 50%, the annual cost of the BAI levy to independent broadcasters, all of whom have publicly welcomed this. My intention, and the discussion I have had with the BAI, is that it would remove altogether the registration and licence fee for the community broadcasters. There is also an amendment to section 154 of the broadcasting funding scheme to allow for a bursary scheme to be introduced to encourage quality journalism in local and community radio. That is the legislation which is before the committee. As soon as it comes back, I will expedite it.

See this speech in context