Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 October 2004
63 Ms O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources when he expects to receive the results of the RTE licence fee adjustment; when he expects to make a decision on the licence fee for 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25655/04]
View answerThe Government decision of December 2002 provided for a mechanism for an annual adjustment in the television licence fee using a consumer price index minus "X" formula. This formula would be used to take account of rising costs but also to reflect performance on execution of change management agenda and performance against programme commitments.
The Government decision provided that decisions on an annual increase would be informed by an independent evaluation of RTÉ's performance in the previous year. When established it is the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, that will undertake this independent evaluation. As the BAI has not yet been established, my Department has engaged consultants to undertake the independent evaluation this year. PricewaterhouseCoopers, which undertook the first annual review last year, has recently been engaged following a public tender process to undertake this year's review.
I expect to receive the report of the consultants by the end of November and then having considered it will bring my proposals to Government in December.
