Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 February 2005
82 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his views on whether a greater share of the television licence fee should be allocated to the independent broadcasting fund; his assessment of the fund to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3570/05]
View answer280 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his views on whether a greater share of the television licence fee should be allocated to the independent broadcasting fund; his assessment of the fund to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3942/05]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 82 and 280 together.
The purpose of the Broadcasting (Funding) Act 2003 was to establish a special fund to encourage both private and public broadcasters to include additional programming of a particular character in their programme schedules. The Act provided that 5% of the net proceeds of the television licence fee should be paid into the fund from 2003 onwards. At the end of 2004 almost €17.5 million had been paid into the fund.
The legislation, which was enacted in December 2003, provided that the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, BCI, would have responsibility for drawing up schemes through which the fund could be accessed. During the course of 2004, the BCI developed and published a draft scheme and consulted widely about it. In December, the BCI submitted a scheme to me for my approval as required under section 2(1) of the Act. The scheme will also have to be notified to the European Commission as a new state aid. My Department is in contact with the Commission in this regard. Once a scheme has been approved it is a matter for the BCI to invite applications and to make awards.
I view the special broadcasting fund as a positive initiative and look forward to listening to and watching some of the new programmes that will be broadcast on Irish radio and television services later this year as a result. I have no intention of bringing forward proposals to vary the amount being paid into the fund. The legislation, however, does provide for a formal review of each scheme by the BCI, three years after that scheme comes into operation.
