Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 140: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the reasons behind the decision to grant an increase of €3 in the television licence fee from 1 April 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3585/05]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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When the Government agreed to an increase in the level of the television licence fee in December 2002, it was a condition of that increase that the level of the licence fee would be subject to an annual adjustment using a consumer price index, CPI, minus X formula, following an independent annual review of RTE's performance in the previous year. The second such annual review was carried out by independent consultants PricewaterhouseCooper in October-November 2004.

The report's key findings were that RTE performed strongly in the programming, financial management and commercial areas. The report also found that there is a scope for some improvement in the company's approach to change management but was positive about what has been achieved to date. Full details of the report are available on my Department's website http://www.dcmnr.ie.

Having considered the report, I decided to increase the cost of a television licence fee by €3, 2%, with effect from 1 April 2005. This will bring the cost of a television licence from €152 to €155.