Vol. 562 No. 4
115 Mr. Coveney asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources when he will introduce legislation before Dáil Éireann to facilitate the setting up of the new Broadcasting Authority of Ireland; and when the new authority will be up and running. [6407/03]
The preparation of draft legislation to give effect to the fundamental reform of public service broadcasting, as announced by me on 11 December 2002, has already begun. That legislation will give effect to the decision to establish the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland as the new content regulator and to re-establish RTE as a commercial State company. The authority will take on the functions of the existing Broadcasting Commission of Ireland with certain regulatory functions that are currently the responsibility of the RTE Authority.
My Department is considering the elements to be included in the legislation and will consult the sector as this work is advanced. The task is complex and it is too soon to say when publication of legislative proposals can be expected or when thereafter the new broadcasting authority will be up and running. In the meantime, draft legislation is being prepared separately to bring into operation the special broadcasting fund. This fund will be for new and innovative additional public service programming. It will be open to all free-to-air broadcasters, including RTE and independent broadcasters licensed by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. This legislation will be introduced ahead of the legislation establishing the new content regulator and I intend to bring heads of a Bill to Government in the near future.
I asked this question in the context of the significant licence fee increase announced before Christmas, a decision that had the agreement of the majority in this House. Clearly, a main component of the reasoning behind the increase was that we should have a new content regulator for both public and private broadcasters, with an independent regulator for RTE. Why are we now looking at a possible minimum of 18 months, according to my information, before we see the new authority up and running?
A figure of €7 out of every €150 paid in licence fees was mentioned. How will this be administered? How does the Minister propose that RTE will be monitored and regulated independently on behalf of the public to ensure that we get value for money, now that we are paying €150 per year? Nothing has changed in relation to the independent monitoring of RTE. Until the new authority is up and running RTE will continue to monitor itself. Is the Minister satisfied with this? How can he justify a licence fee increase of this magnitude without following through quickly on the promises he made?
I am surprised the Deputy and all on his side of the House welcome the licence fee increase. My understanding was that the Opposition criticised the magnitude of it so I would like to know where the Deputy really stands.
As anybody in the management of RTE can confirm, the contact between my Department and RTE since the licence fee increase has been even more significant than it was prior to the application being made. My Department is in daily contact with RTE in relation to the commitment it made and the basis upon which the Government granted the licence fee increase.
The Minister made a commitment to set up an independent regulator.
The area of content regulation is a complex one. There have been 17 Acts dealing with this since 1926. In a significant move, we are taking the regulatory functions away from the RTE Authority and giving them to an independent authority. The Deputy asked what would happen in relation to monitoring and alleged that RTE would be free to do whatever it wanted. That is not the case. At the moment the Department is discussing in detail with RTE the statement of commitments, which will show a baseline from where it is to proceed over the next year. It deals with how RTE is to increase the content it said it would, specifically in relation to programmes and other initiatives. The results will be independently monitored at the end of this year, by which time, as the Deputy said, the new BAI will not yet be in place. We are taking our time because we want to get it right.
Who will monitor it?
I assure the Deputy and the people who funded this increase that there will be independent monitoring that everyone can see – it will be an open process.
The fund will be administered in the meantime by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. We intend to introduce legislation dealing with the fund, which will outline the overall framework of the grant scheme resulting from it. The heads of the Bill should be before the Government before Easter.
