John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I acknowledge that the Minister and the Government have moved somewhat on this issue. Two of these amendments are in my name and that of Senator Bradford. Amendment No. 93 has more or less been accepted by the Minister. Amendment No. 94 has not, however, and that is the one I want to speak about. The Minister has come a part of the way along the road towards accepting amendment No. 94 and setting a target of 5%.

I disagree with a couple of things the Minister said. He said he was setting a base figure. The legitimate fear is that the base figure will be a limit rather than a base, and that it will be used as such into the future. I acknowledge that the increase to 3% is an improvement on where we were when we discussed this on Committee Stage, but I disagree with his opening comment to the effect that 3% was a significant figure. It is not a significant figure in the overall context, although an improvement from where matters stood. The fund we are speaking of is the RTE independent production account. Over the past few years there has been a significant development in the independent radio sector. Compared to their colleagues in independent television, which has been part of the Irish broadcasting system for a number of years, the independent radio sector has found times more difficult. The proposal that just 3% of the RTE independent production account would be allocated for independent radio production is not enough and the Fine Gael amendment seeks to increase it to 5% over a period of a number of years, as suggested. I accept that it would, perhaps, be difficult to do this in a single move, but it would be a significant step in the right direction to increase it over a period of four or five years.

I hope the Minister will be able to respond positively to this issue. I acknowledge that he has made a step in the right direction. The Bill provides for an increase of about €10 million per annum in the independent production account to bring it up to about €40 million. In other words, what we are speaking about in terms of the 5% is just €2 million out of the total, a very small proportion of the overall cake. I hope the Minister will be able to accommodate and increase the figure from 3% to 5% on a staged process over a number of years. It is not too much of an increase to ask for and it would be a significant positive development for the independent radio sector. We should be trying to encourage that sector. Not enough has being done by Government and by radio networks over the years to try to promote the independent radio sector. I believe this would be a significant step in the right direction if the Minister could see fit to increase the percentage up to 5%.