Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the report today. I welcome the fact that we have it also. It is important. We are all agreed that there is a problem with funding for public sector broadcasting and that something needs to be done.

There is one part of it that I would approach differently and I will come to that shortly. That aside, public sector broadcasting needs to be maintained and my party believes that it forms an essential part of the media framework for the future.

There are problems. There is the widespread evasion of the television licence and a funding shortfall of €35 million to €40 million. The committee thrashed out those matters and I agree with the Minister that those who pay their licence fee are paying €35 or €40 a year to cover those who are not paying it. That is not sustainable or fair in the long term.

The most important point is that there should be no increase in the licence fee. That should be deferred for as long as possible, and a two-year review is in place. The licence fee is index-linked which gives some protection and in the future Ministers should be careful about imposing an increased charge on those who are paying because they are the ones who wind up carrying it, and low-income houses will be the hardest hit. However, I am glad certain proposals in the report that were put forward for pre-legislative scrutiny in the broadcasting Bill, such as the privatisation of collection of television licence fees, are not being countenanced, and they should not be.

We in Sinn Féin fundamentally oppose the recommendation in the report on collection and have made that clear on a number of occasions. In connection with the Revenue Commissioners collecting the licence fee, I still believe it is not appropriate for that arm of the State to be used to collect a fee for what is a utility. The collection should remain with An Post but we should move to modernise it and use a database for newly purchased televisions. The Minister mentioned that the numbers regarding the purchase of televisions are recovering. Last year saw the highest number purchased since 2008. Another way of capturing information is when people access and are registered for a service, such as cable television or satellite. The recommendation of a household charge collected by Revenue is not the way to go and there are workable alternatives. The alternative I mentioned is being used in other European states. At the committee, my party put forward that proposal, which is, as I stated, to pay at the point of purchase for the television licence and be registered, and the same in the case of services for reception. It would link the household directly to availing of that service. We need to be careful about using the heavy arm of the State.

The licence fee, for many households, is a substantial sum from their income. For many households, it is almost a week's income. In the case of many low-paid workers, such as those on the minimum wage, it is more than half their income. The total collected is a substantial amount of money. There is the gap of €40 million that needs to be made up, but €179 million is collected by the Department each year and goes to RTÉ.

The licence fee paid by householders needs to be traceable. There needs to be accountability, transparency and justification for how householders' money is spent and the value they are getting for their money. Indeed, the Committee of Public Accounts, in its report this week, stated that "clarity should be brought to the oversight arrangements of RTÉ, in addition to the provisions of the Broadcasting Act". This has been examined and discussed at the Committee of Public Accounts this week, as the Minister will be aware. Householders see millions of euro being spent and it is important that they can see value for money. We need to find a way of tackling the excessive pay of a small number of people in RTÉ, and it needs to answer to the Minister, to us and to the licence holders as to how those sums are justified.

Returning to the report, my party welcomes the recommendation on re-transmission fees. That is a sensible way to go. With the re-transmission fees, we are in favour of RTÉ being allowed at least to negotiate with any commercial entity. It should be entitled to do that and legislation should not prevent it or restrict its ability to do that. RTÉ is expected to look for all commercial avenues available to it to raise revenue. Re-transmission fees allow for a normal commercial opportunity and that should be availed of.

In terms of funding for local and regional community radio and the independent sector from licence fees, we need to remember that while these are commercial entities and there is a difference, there is a strong argument which we went over well at the committee regarding the public service element of their output.

We all know they are very popular and that they have a huge listenership at local and regional level. Those media outlets are popular and some are very good public service broadcasters, especially local radio. This needs to be recognised, encouraged and protected. The report strikes the right balance on that. Whether they are commercially run, they provide local news and funding to assist in public service broadcasting is important.

A suggestion was made at the committee that newspapers should be brought into the loop. The suggestion did not get wings but my party and I are certainly opposed to that. It would completely blur the lines of the different roles played by different media in a functioning democracy.

We can see the importance of having a well-funded public broadcaster in recent years during the era of fake news and fantasy turned into facts on the internet. It is important that we have investigative journalism. We are fairly well served in this country but there is always room for improvement. We should not be smug or become content about it and think we are the greatest, but we are a long way ahead of many other countries nevertheless. It is one of the things we do well and we need to continue to do it well. We need to be efficient in doing it and do it better. This report will help that. Sinn Féin disagreed on the collection method suggested in the report and had put forward a viable alternative, but overall the report is good. The Minister has a lot of material with which to work and hopefully the report will lay the foundations for a good public sector broadcasting system in the coming decades as we have to look out towards the future. I recommend the report.

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