asked the Minister for Communications the estimated cost of the establishment of a local independent radio service and the amount included in his departmental Estimates for this development.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Local Independent Radio.
23.
The cost of local radio will be determined by the number of stations established which will be a matter for the Local Radio Commission. The cost of the stations established will be borne by the broadcasting contractors. Consequently the question of including a provision in my Department's Estimates does not arise.
Not pre-empting the debate on the Local Radio Bill, will the proposed section 28 not mention the sum of £1 million as a possible allocation for the new radio commission? Surely if the Minister is serious about the Local Radio Bill and the development of local radio then he would have included some funds in the Estimates. Surely this is not going to exist without any funding whatsoever. That is what the Minister is really saying here today, that he is not providing funds for this local radio.
The commission will be enabled to borrow funds under guarantee by the Minister for Finance in order to provide for the start off costs.
The Minister is talking about financial rectitude but he is setting up a local radio commission without any funding whatsoever, without any assistance from the Department of Communications, and he expects them to borrow from some institution to set about establishing local radio. That is a very poor start to a proposal which is now before the House and I am flabbergasted and amazed that the Minister would come here before the House and inform the House that he is now advocating the local radio commissioners to commence——
We will be dealing with that when we reach the Bill.
The unfortunate problem with Deputy Leyden and his party is that they have a propensity for spending needlessly taxpayers' money. If Deputy Leyden wants the tax burden to be increased on the PAYE sector or on taxpayers in general, that is his business. This Government are determined to avoid imposing unnecessary liabilities on taxpayers. It is intended that those people who are lucky enough to get contracts from the Local Radio Commission will by their fees remunerate the commission for any start off costs.
Is the Minister saying that he has not provided any funds for the establishment of the Local Radio Commission? That is what he is saying to this House. It is the first time in the history of the State that proposed legislation is before the House and the Minister has provided no funding to establish a commission or to commence their operations. It is an outrageous proposal that he is not providing funding at the initial stages. Whether that funding is returned to the Exchequer or to the Minister in due course from the commission is another day's work. I do not believe the Minister is serious about local radio or about the Bill.
A question, Deputy. The Deputy will have an opportunity of giving his opinions at length when we reach the Bill.
If it reaches the floor of this House at all before the summer recess, yes. I am asking the Minister at this stage if he will consider providing funding for the establishment of the Local Radio Commission and he says "No".
If the Deputy tells me which taxes he proposes to increase I will consider the matter — very reluctantly, I might add, because this Government are determined to reduce, not increase, taxation.
As he did——
That concludes Question Time for today. Any questions not reached will go for written answer unless the Deputy concerned notifies the office before 4 p.m. that he wants them to stay on the Order Paper for oral answer.