Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senators for their comments.

I do not share Senator Finucane's suspicion of public service officials. In all my dealings with the public service, as a Minister and otherwise, I have found the advice given to Ministers and Members of the Oireachtas and the work done for us to be nothing but professional. It is a public servant's job to advise, but it is the job of a Minister to decide. An official may lose an argument about what a Minister should do, but the public service – this is particularly true in the case Senator Finucane mentioned – will put into action the legislation that is passed by the Oireachtas. Senator Finucane need have no worries in that regard.

I can understand why RTE was somewhat worried. This legislation represents a dramatic sea change. For the first time in the history of the State, a portion of the licence fee will not go specifically to RTE. The original intention was to ring-fence 5% for all broadcasters except RTE but on the advice of the Attorney General, that there was a strong possibility that this would fall foul of the state aid issue, it was decided that we would have to include RTE and allow the fund to operate on a level playing field.

I was asked to be more specific about this issue. In response to Senator Quinn's proposal, Senator Mooney made the argument that I would make. Senator Quinn's proposal presupposes that this type of programming would lose audience share and, consequently, lose advertising revenue. I would like to think that it would do the opposite. People should not lose sight of what this legislation is trying to do, which is to give more emphasis to the diversity of our culture in specific areas. I am not saying anything that is against community or local radio and television; I am a great supporter of them. The genesis of this legislation is the need to assist broadcasters in providing additional high quality programmes in particular areas. The audience rather than the broadcasters will be the recipients of the benefits of this fund.