Vol. 560 No. 1
112 Mr. Kehoe asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the way in which he intends to ensure value for money, accountability and transparency in RTE and the provision of public service broadcasting into the future following his decision to grant a ?43 licence fee increase. [27055/02]
When I announced last December that the Government had agreed to increase the price of the—
On a point of order, it is regrettable that the Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources is meeting at this moment.
That is not a point of order.
Although my time in this House has been short, I have not seen a precedent for this. The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources is here and we have an opportunity to question him, yet a committee meeting on a similar subject was organised for the same time.
That is not a point of order and you have made your point.
I would like this to be taken up with the relevant committee.
Take it up with the committee.
I have a genuine point of order. On my order paper for Wednesday 29 January, there is no facility to put questions to the Taoiseach. Why is that?
There will be questions to the Taoiseach. Leader's questions come after questions to the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources—
I understand that a Cheann Comhairle.
Taoiseach's questions will follow leaders' questions.
Thank you.
I understand that Question Time on a Wednesday at 2.30 p.m. starts with a Minister. The Taoiseach generally takes his questions on Wednesday mornings.
So there will be an opportunity to have normal Taoiseach's questions?
Normal Taoiseach's questions will be at approximately 4.05 p.m.
We will try again. When I announced last December that the Government had agreed to increase the price of the television licence fee by €43, I also announced a wide range of measures that will be implemented to strengthen the accountability and transparency of RTE in relation to the use of the substantial public funding being provided to it.
These measures include the following: RTE will operate on the basis of a public charter – I will shortly initiate a public consultation on a draft charter; future funding of RTE will be linked to multi-annual business plans with outputs that can be independently verified; RTE will publish an agreed statement of programme commitments that can be measured; RTE will establish an audience council in the first half of this year to act as an advisory body to the authority; RTE will publish a code of fair trading practice in the first quarter of this year; and RTE is implementing a change management programme supported by a new financial management system that will bring greater transparency and accountability in relation to the cost of each RTE service. My officials will continue to meet RTE management over the coming months to ensure compliance with the commitments given.
RTE will not receive the full increase of €43 as it was an integral part of the Government decision that 5% of the net proceeds of the television licence fee – approximately €7 to €7.50 – is to be ring-fenced as a special broadcasting fund to encourage new, innovative and additional public service broadcasting. The remaining €36, approximately, will go to RTE. This is still a very significant increase and, accordingly, I am committed to ensuring that the licence fee paying public get good value for money. The package of reforms announced and the associated accountability and transparency measures are designed to ensure that this objective is realised.
I was very disappointed to see the large hike in the licence fee and the manner in which it was brought in. Like many other increases introduced by the Government since the election and sneaked in after the budget, hit ting the ordinary man on the street and the ordinary consumer—
The Deputy should ask a question.
I am coming to my question. There are many questions I would like to ask. What percentage of the licence fee increase will go towards programme making? Has the Minister made any provisions to increase the level of programme making? Every time one turns on the television one notices that Irish-made programmes are fewer and fewer. One could almost count on one hand the number of Irish-made programmes.
I know the Minister said he will continue to meet RTE to ensure the licence fee increase is justified. However, has anybody from the Department been appointed to RTE to ensure that is the case?
I am not at all surprised that the Deputy and his party are disappointed by the increase in the RTE licence fee. When we increased the fee previously we were castigated by the Opposition for not making the increase greater.
A policy adviser and a number of public servants work full time in my Department on the issue of RTE. There were more meetings with RTE personnel in the six months before Christmas than were held with them since the formation of the Government. RTE personnel said they never had as many meetings with a Department as took place over those six months. The purpose of those meetings was to examine the general and financial management of RTE and the result has been certain understandings predicated on a licence fee increase. My Department will continue to work day-to-day with RTE to ensure that the commitments it made are fulfilled.
Commitments regarding home-produced programmes are set out in documents available on the websites of RTE and my Department, although those were predicated on a full €43 licence fee increase which was not approved. On RTE 1, RTE has undertaken to increase home-produced drama at peak time by 15%, home-produced news and current affairs by 10%, home-produced music by over 12%, home-produced factual and historic programming by 8% and home-produced entertainment by 14%. The issue is not as acute in radio because most of the programming on that medium is home-produced. On Network 2, increases in home-produced programmes will be in the order of 7% in news and current affairs, 6% in music and 8% in entertainment. RTE has committed to increase dramatically the extent of home-produced programmes which is the main reason the licence fee was increased.
