Vol. 546 No. 4
17 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands when she last met with the RTE Authority; when she next expects to meet the RTE Authority; the discussions she has had with members of the Authority or other RTE representatives regarding the economic problems the station is facing; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31847/01]
I last met the chairman of the RTE Authority and the director general of RTE on this matter on 28 November 2001 and our next meeting has been provisionally agreed for January. I also met with the RTE trade union group on 29 November 2001. Our discussions ranged over the current financial position of RTE and the actions being taken by the authority to correct emerging imbalances. I noted that responsibilities for managing finances was a matter for RTE in the first instance and restated the position of the Government on what needed to be done by RTE before any further increase in the television licence fee could be considered.
Yesterday, the RTE trade union group made a submission to the Joint Committee on Heritage and the Irish Language. They were seeking three things and I ask the Minister to comment on those. First, they asked for an immediate review of RTE's funding in the context of its performance as a public service broadcaster. They also sought a commitment to indexation and/or an increase in licence fee. Their other concern, which I believe the Minister would also find alarming, is that there are, allegedly, up to 240,000 householders not paying a television licence. I found that extraordinary and I put it to the Minister that, if that is the true position, she has a responsibility to see that that money is collected.
As I said in my initial reply, I met the trade unions to discuss relevant issues and I took the opportunity to state again that public service broadcasting was of extreme importance. During the debate on the broadcasting legislation which I brought to this House, I reiterated, very clearly, the position of this Government with regard to public service broadcasting. I also said that, whereas this philosophy is extremely important, we have to live in the real world and to take account of constraints in terms of commercial viability. I believe these two considerations can be balanced.
With regard to increasing the licence fee, I have made it quite clear at any meetings I have had, either with the Authority or the unions or, indeed, in this House, that the increase of £14.50 in the licence fee was an interim increase and that there was an opportunity, in the context of the Government decision, to come back in 2003 once the provisions of that Government decision had been completed and verified independently. I have said that if a situation was to arise whereby RTE could complete that process long before 2003 and if it is independently verified, I would be delighted to meet RTE then to see what could be done at that stage. I made the point again that, even if there had been a greater increase in the licence fee, we would still be discussing the existing problems and imbalances and the need for cost cuts. I agreed that the issues went beyond questions of efficiency and effectiveness and, indeed, were structural in nature. This issue was discussed at length at both meetings, including my meeting with the unions.
I am interested in the third point put forward by the Deputy and he is perfectly correct – this matter was raised in the discussions with the unions with regard to the question of collection. As the Deputy knows, there is an arrangement with An Post for the collection of the licence fee and we can continue to look at that as one of the issues for review.
I thank the Minister for her reply but would she not agree that there is a need for action now? Lyric FM is losing its news service, the programme making capacity of Raidió na Gaeltachta is effectively being greatly reduced and, in the context of RTE losing its outside broadcasting units and workshops, its capacity to produce programmes of an Irish nature and of a public broadcasting nature is sadly being curtailed. Will the Minister outline the areas in which RTE has to come up to scratch, so to speak, to secure an earlier review than at the end of 2003? In general terms, does the Minister believe that, where the unions have indicated, as they did at our meeting yesterday, they are prepared to take the pain to get things right, it might be possible to have all the outstanding areas addressed much more quickly? Will she tell us what those areas are?
It is agreed within RTE and in Government that there is a need for action at this time. That has been evidenced by the fact that the transformation agreement has been agreed by unions and management in RTE. There is a need for cost cutting and I believe that is accepted by everyone. However, the questions the Deputy is posing to me this afternoon are not questions for me – they should be posed to the RTE Authority. The Minister and Government of the day have no say in the type of programming or cost cutting that should take place. That is a matter for management and unions within RTE. That is the very specific role of the authority and that is why the arm's length principle exists.
With regard to programming, the issues in relation to Lyric FM and Raidió na Gaeltachta were raised, as the Deputy knows, in the Irish Language and Heritage Committee. I gave an undertaking at that committee meeting that I would pass on those views to the authority, as I did when I met that body the following day. I made it quite clear, both at the committee meeting and in passing on those views to the authority, that I was doing so as a matter of courtesy because I have no say whatsoever in RTE programming or how the cost reductions will be brought about. I suggest that the Deputy reads the PricewaterhouseCoopers report in which he will see the kind of direction that needs to be taken to put RTE's house in order.
