Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What is an insult and an affront to everyone is the Government's clear inability to take a decision. It has had a report for two years. That report made a clear-cut recommendation for the abolition of the television licence and its replacement by direct Exchequer funding. This has coincided with a collapse in public confidence in RTÉ and consequential non-payment of a TV licence the Taoiseach described as outdated and from another era. I agree with him on that. The question here is not about the necessity of quality public service media in RTÉ and beyond. We agree on that. The question is one of sustainable funding and the Government has to call it. Its members have dithered and delayed and contradicted one another. Worse than that, it seems it now proposes tens of thousands, potentially hundreds of thousands, of people will be dragged through the courts for non-payment of a licence fee that is outdated and from another era. The answer to this is for the Taoiseach to do his job and make a decision. The only logical decision is the abolition of the licence and direct Exchequer funding. It is that clear-cut.

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