Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The licence fee is meant to provide for public service broadcasting.

Traditionally, much of it has gone to RTÉ, which provides a service at a national level. At a local level, though, and other than Raidió na Gaeltachta, it does not provide any such service. Local news, local current affairs, local sport and local magazine programmes on, for example, agriculture are provided by local stations. If RTÉ needs a huge subsidy to provide public service broadcasting, how is it presumed that much smaller stations can operate without a subsidy? Therefore, I agree that the levy should be scrapped and that part of the public funding for public services should go to local stations providing these vital services to local communities throughout the country.

I published a Bill during the previous Dáil to deal with this issue. Unfortunately, with the overwhelming majority in the Dáil at the time, it did not make progress. It is now time to act. Is é an dara rud gur mhaith liom tagairt a dhéanamh dó sa cúpla soicind atá fágtha agam ná an difríocht ollmhór idir na costais a bhaineann le cláir a chur ar an teilifís ag RTÉ agus ag TG4. Tá maoiniú an-bheag á fháil ag TG4. Tá éagothroime úafásach ann i dtaobh maoinithe do TG4. Murach TG4 ní bheadh RTÉ leath chomh héifeachtach agus atá sé. Bheadh na costais fós i bhfad níos measa ná mar atá siad. Tá sé in am cothromú a dhéanamh agus cothrom na Féinne a thabhairt do TG4 ó thaobh mhaoiniú Stáit de.

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