Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 February 2005
122 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the main conclusions of the recent consultants report commissioned by his Department into the way in which RTE uses licence fee money; his views on whether RTE is using the licence fee revenue to suppress advertising rates in order to keep the competition under constant revenue pressure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3578/05]
View answerThe Government decision of December 2003 to increase the cost of a television licence by €2 required that the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources arrange for an external review on the impact on all broadcasters of the licence fee paid by the public to RTE, with particular emphasis on the advertising market. That review was carried out in October-November 2004 by a team of independent consultants headed by a London based firm, Europe Economics, and included Irish firms Curtin Dorgan Associates and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Shortly after I received the independent consultants report I brought the report to the attention of Government and then published it. I have arranged for a copy of the report to be forwarded to the Deputy. It is also available on the Department's website at http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/Home/Broadcasting/Latest+Broadcasting+News.htm.
Having regard to the report's conclusions, I do not propose taking any further action in the matter.
