Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 April 2004
19 Ms B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the progress made with regard to the proposed charter for RTÉ being prepared by his Department; if proposals on the charter have yet been brought to Government; if the charter will have a statutory basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10220/04]
View answerAs part of the package of measures agreed in December 2002 in the context of the decision to grant a significant increase in the television licence fee it was agreed that RTÉ would operate under a public service broadcasting charter, the purpose of which is to explain the obligations placed on RTÉ by national and EU legislation and to set out what RTÉ commits to in terms of provision of services and accountability. A draft public service broadcasting charter for RTÉ was prepared and circulated to all Ministers for comments.
Having considered the comments of other Ministers, I brought a draft charter to the attention of Government on 23 July 2003, prior to the launch of a public consultation process on the charter. My Department received a significant number of high quality submissions during the public consultation process. Copies of these submissions are available on my Department's website. Having considered these submissions the charter has now been almost finalised.
It is proposed that the final charter will be brought to the attention of Government for noting and then published. The report on the public consultation process will also be published on my Department's website.
In the context of forthcoming broadcasting legislation I am considering a provision that would require the existence of a charter. I want to be clear, however, that the charter does not impose new statutory obligations on RTÉ.
