Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 417: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will amend the 2009 Broadcasting Act whereby licence fee money has been allocated solely to RTE and leaving the 34 independent national multicity, regional and local stations which command the majority of radio listenership totally dependent on advertising revenue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3683/12]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The distribution of television licence fee receipts is governed by the provisions of Section 123 of the Broadcasting Act 2009, as amended by Part 4 of the Communications Regulations Act 2011. In effect, the majority of licence fee revenue is paid to RTÉ, TG4 and an amount equal to 7% of net licence fee receipts is available to all broadcasters to apply for through the Broadcasting Funding Scheme. I have no intention of amending this provision in the Broadcasting Act 2009.

RTÉ, as a public service broadcaster, is funded through a mix of licence fee and commercial revenues obtained largely from advertising. The public funding element is provided for the purpose of allowing the company to meet its public service broadcasting objects.

These objects are set out in Part 7 of the Broadcasting Act 2009, and they provide the company's statutory mandates and encapsulate national policy in terms of public service broadcasting. They include the specific objective of providing national, free-to-air public service broadcasting services, as well as the provision of a broad range of other additional services that are seen as fundamental to the role of the public service broadcaster. In pursuit of these objects, the provisions in the Act subject the company to a range of additional requirements.

The rationale for providing State funding for Public Service Broadcasting is to provide an independent and reliable income flow that allows the two public service broadcasting corporations, RTÉ and TG4, to attain their public service objects, while ensuring they can maintain a high level of editorial independence. This is especially important in the context of news and current affairs.

These statutory objects and requirements clearly set the State-owned public service broadcasters apart from their commercial counterparts who, while bringing choice and competition to the market, are privately owned and funded companies that have entered the market on the basis of a commercial proposition.

I am aware that the funding of the public service broadcasters has been subject to criticism by private sector broadcasters and, in particular, that there has been criticism of the dual public and commercial funding model as applied to RTÉ. The funding of privately owned independent broadcasters is, of course, derived from their own commercial activities. Independent broadcasters can voluntarily apply for a broadcasting licence from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) and are not subject to the same statutory requirements in terms of their broadcasting remit.

It is also worth noting that public, community and independent commercial broadcasters can all access funding from the Broadcasting Funding Scheme, the purpose of which is to encourage the inclusion of additional programming of a particular character in broadcasters programme schedules. The Scheme is open to independent producers and all 'free to air' broadcasters and is funded by way of a payment of 7% of net licence fee receipts, which is paid to the BAI in respect of this Scheme. This amount was increased from 5% to 7% under the Broadcasting Act 2009.