Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Anyway, it proved not to be as successful as we thought because some of those who availed of the amnesty were still hiding away their money.

Everyone who has a television has electricity in his or her home and the Minister is also responsible for the electricity supply. The two run in parallel. The Minister might be told that he cannot, under data protection rules, provide the information. I know that the ESB does not have all the connections now because of privatisation and other issues. It would has its own lists but the combined list is there. If everybody could give that extra support for the licence it would ensure the continuation of high quality broadcasting, which is very expensive. The service provided by RTE 1 and RTE 2 is very good, although I would have no objection to RTE 2 being privatised. It is surplus to requirements. Apart from its sports coverage, it does not provide much. I would also appeal to Irish companies to advertise on Irish television and radio. I regularly see advertisements for supermarkets on Sky television but Sky is not generating any income here, as far as I know. It had a team in Ireland at one point but I do not think that is the case anymore.

As far as current affairs are concerned, RTE has made some terrible mistakes. I am thinking in particular of the Fr. Reynolds case, which was a gigantic error. RTE must be very careful when it comes to current affairs broadcasting and must ensure it gets its facts right. I would not be impressed by the entrapment tactics used with regard to public representatives. A form of inducement was given to entrap people but that is not the job of RTE. If there is corruption in the system, then An Garda Síochána should deal with it. That is not the responsibility of RTE. That being said, I would like to commend RTE for its work on the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, which was extremely good. Since RTE covered the visit of President John F. Kennedy to Ireland in 1963, its outside broadcasting production has been exemplary. Next year the Pope is coming to Ireland and RTE will have another opportunity to show how good it is at covering such events.

The Minister has responsibility for RTE. I know his heart is in the right place and that he is trying to work with the organisation to ensure its survival. I was one of the first people to publicly oppose section 31 of the Broadcasting Act many years ago. I got into political trouble over that at the time.