Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I agree that we must keep tight control on spending. This amendment will give at least a form whereby the broadcasting authority has to justify and set out a budget and plans so it is not allowed to creep in an unscrutinised manner. When it comes to regulators, where they are funded by the industry, as in this case and we have a similar context in telecoms and energy regulation, it is a model that works. A good regulatory system leads to a better business environment. It is in the interests of the people in the industry to have a fair referee. It is like paying for the referees in a junior league where everyone chips in. Payment for the referee is not on a competitive basis in terms of one team or another haggling to bring down the price.

The main cost is employees, which is subject to the approval of the Ministers for Finance and Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, and that oversight is subject to that approval. Far from excessive costs, my main concern is that it will be difficult for the new authority employees in these times of the embargo on the recruitment of public sector workers because they will have to be incredibly productive to meet the range of tasks we are asking of them.

The experience of the performance of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland is that while people in the industry may originally have been nervous and reluctant about the cost, they would say that the setting and policing of standards and the independent allocation of licensing is the most important element in their business environment because it gives them certainty and fairness and that justifies the inevitable cost.