Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to take part in the debate. Once again, I am disappointed that the Minister does not have a written speech. In addition to health, climate change and housing, the future of public service broadcasting is one of the most important topics. It is not a luxury, but an essential part of a functioning, healthy democracy. I expected, at the very least, that the Minister would have set out his and the Government's views and what decisions they will make with regard to saving public service broadcasting. I will return to what RTÉ should do momentarily.

This is particularly relevant, given the amount of misinformation with which we are so familiar. Last week, the Oireachtas hosted a meeting of the International Grand Committee on Disinformation and 'Fake News', which was chaired by the Minister's colleague. Members from seven countries, including Ireland, signed a declaration to advance international collaboration in the regulation of social media to combat harmful content, hate speech and electoral interference online. Last month, Mark Zuckerberg told a US congressional meeting that Facebook does not fact-check political advertising and will not remove advertisements containing false information. As a new member of the justice committee, I am fully up to speed with the challenges posed by false information going up on various platforms. The word "platforms" is used because, according to Amazon, Facebook and Twitter, they are not publishers. However, information is going on them that has detrimental effects on people's lives.

It is vital that we discuss public service broadcasting and have a definition of what it is. The first focus is on the evasion of the licence fee. I wish to focus on the 87% of people who have televisions who pay it. They are endorsing public service broadcasting. I acknowledge there is a problem with the 13% who do not pay and a problem with the 11% or 12%, of whom I am one, who do not own a television. I am open to paying whatever fee is necessary to ensure there is public service broadcasting. However, 87% of people with televisions are endorsing public service broadcasting and its importance.

With regard to the plan that has been produced by RTÉ, it is very good that the executive board has agreed to take a 10% reduction in pay. The high earners are going to take a 15% reduction. I see no reason for presenters being on such a high salary. Public service broadcasting is as important as being a politician, in that one pays a reasonable salary and expects a public duty and public service in return. We should find a different way, aside from money, to value public service broadcasters. That is a challenge for Members of the Dáil. Certainly, I cannot support the salaries being paid to them.

As regards the Irish language, the lack of urgency in the Minister's speech is regrettable. Members of the Irish committee published a report in May 2019, but the all-party committee published its report almost two years ago. It highlighted the problems facing RTÉ. Stillwater Communications was commissioned in 2012 to address an bealach ar aghaidh ó thaobh na Gaeilge de. Chuir siad an spotsolas ar na rudaí a bhí le déanamh. Stillwater Communications looked at RTÉ from the point of view of the Irish language and highlighted the wonderful advantages that exist if they were used in terms of using many more of the programmes produced by TG4 and Raidió na Gaeltachta to mainstream Irish. What is worrying is that those recommendations fit in with Government policy but, once again, there is cognitive dissonance. The Government policy is to normalise na Gaeilge through every sphere in Irish public life. Stillwater Communications looked at that and came up with good recommendations, yet that has not happened. Both our report and Stillwater Communications recommended that Aonad na Gaeilge be re-established, but that has not happened. The main message I wish to convey here, trí Ghaeilge, ná na buntáistí a bhaineann le húsáid na Gaeilge ar na meáin chumarsáide mar RTÉ. It has utterly failed to do that.

If the Minister replies to this debate, I hope he will address the crisis in public service broadcasting, the necessity for it and the steps to be taken by the Government to ensure we have an independent public service broadcaster that reflects the variety of people in Ireland. It is ironic that RTÉ in the statement on its new strategy talks about being close to the people on the ground, yet it is closing Lyric FM in Limerick. It is moving away from being on the ground and from its legal obligations to use the Irish language in the most normal and natural way possible.

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