Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Irrespective of the criticisms we may sometimes have of RTÉ, public service broadcasting and having a national broadcaster are important because the alternative is the big, private, for-profit IT companies and the big digital online purveyors of movies, such as Amazon and Netflix, which are making an absolute fortune. If we are to safeguard the future of public service broadcasting and the media, we should, rather than imposing broadcasting charges on ordinary people who are already paying through the nose for Sky, Netflix and God knows what and then imposing another charge on them, impose a digital tax on the profits of the companies.

It is outrageous that important national matches, certain GAA matches and so on can be viewed only on some of the private, pay-per-view platforms. It should not be allowed. Similarly, we also need to ensure the public service broadcasters give more time to domestic musical and cultural output. Indeed, a set percentage of their output should be committed to this.

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