John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Question 112: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his views on the European Commission's investigation into broadcasters here, following the Commission's ruling against Dutch Government aid paid to NOS; the communication he has had with the Commission in this regard; and the bearing the Commission's ruling will have on the proposed legislation for the establishment of a new Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. [26598/06]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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I assume that the Deputy is referring to the EU Commission's investigation into the funding of RTÉ. As the Deputy may be aware this investigation arose in the context of a formal complaint by TV3, made originally in 1999, alleging infringements of Articles 92-94 of the EC Treaty relating to, among other things, the payment of licence fee revenue and direct grants to RTÉ. This is one of a number of complaints made by commercial television operators across the European Union against the funding arrangements in various member states for public service broadcasters.

Following a period of investigation, the EU Commission forwarded an Article 17 letter to the Irish authorities on 3 March 2003 setting out its preliminary views. The letter included a number of recommendations which the Commission considers must be implemented before the funding scheme for RTÉ can be considered as compatible with the relevant provisions of the EC Treaty, including recommendations relating to the implementation of the transparency directive. The recommendations proposed by the Commission are of a detailed legal and regulatory nature and have been subject to ongoing constructive discussion with the Commission.

The outcome of the Article 17 process is a matter of negotiation between the Irish authorities and the European Commission. Accordingly, it would be inappropriate for me to make any detailed comments. At this stage, however, I am confident that Ireland will be able to achieve a satisfactory outcome.