Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. As I and the Minister, Deputy Martin, have stated, we will make a decision on this in the coming weeks. As a Government, we appreciate and understand the importance of public service media for a well-functioning democracy. It is also essential for cultural development, social cohesion and well-being. As such, it requires a funding model that provides long-term certainty, is sustainable and, vitally, protects the independence of media providers. Such funding is not only crucial for our public service broadcasters, TG4 and RTÉ, but also for independent producers and the wider national, local and community broadcasters.

Any new funding will need to reflect that in the context of public service content. There have been a number of reports and there is ongoing reform of RTÉ, which is important as to why a decision has not been made in the past 12 months. I stated publicly that the vast majority of people continue to pay for their TV licence and should continue to in the system we have at present. This year up to 21 June, 358,000 licences were sold while more than 800,000 were sold last year in total. A majority of people pay and contribute. Both Deputies said to abolish the fee and pay for it centrally but there are pressures on public expenditure across all Departments. When we have a system of contribution for which the majority of people pay, we should not abandon it and look for central government funding. That is why, in my public remarks, I said an ongoing contribution from the public is important in reform.

To answer Deputy Doherty's question, we have not yet decided what that model will be. We are sincere about trying to bring this to a conclusion in the coming weeks. That is what we will do, working with the Ministers, Deputies Martin and Donohoe, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste.

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