Television Licence Fee

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 July 2023

Thursday, 13 July 2023

Questions (54)

Michael McNamara

Question:

54. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if the current legal requirement to have a television licence, the revenue from which goes to RTÉ to carry out public service broadcasting commitments, will be reviewed; if the consideration of providing revenue to local radio stations in respect of news and current affairs output will form part of any review; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35131/23]

Oral answers (6 contributions)

Deputy Michael McNamara

Funding for those national heroes is key to their future. Could the Minister tell me if the current legal requirement to have a television licence, the revenue from which goes to RTÉ to carry out its public service broadcasting commitments, will be reviewed and if the consideration of providing revenue to local radio stations in respect of news and current affairs output will form part of any review?

Deputy Catherine Martin

The current legal requirements regarding television licences are set out in Part 9 of the Broadcasting Act 2009. As the Deputy is aware, following Government consideration of the recommendations of the Future of Media Commission, a technical working group was established to examine potential reforms to the TV licence funding model.

The group submitted its report to me at the end of March. However, given recent events, it is clear that public trust in RTÉ must be rebuilt before a decision of this significance can be made. Therefore, a Government decision on the future funding model for public service broadcasting has been paused until such time as the external independent review of RTÉ is complete and the findings considered.

In addition to funding RTÉ, the television licence fee is also currently used to fund content on broadcasters, including commercial television and radio stations, through the Sound and Vision scheme. Part 10 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 makes provision for the disbursement of 7% of the net TV licence fee receipts to the broadcasting fund for the Sound and Vision and archiving schemes.

The Sound and Vision scheme provides significant support to the broadcasting sector. In addition to funding from the TV licence, since taking office, I have allocated an additional €22.4 million in Exchequer funding to the scheme. Of this, €7.5 million of this has been ring-fenced for commercial radio sector and €1.2 million for community radio. The Government has accepted the recommendation of the Future of Media Commission that the broadcasting fund be converted into a media fund to provide funding on a platform-neutral basis to the wider media sector, including for news and current affairs output. The latter will need legislative change and the approval of the European Commission.

In the interim, €6 million has been allocated in budget 2023 to establish the media fund on an administrative basis with the priority being the development of a local democracy reporting scheme and a courts reporting scheme. Both of these will support media at local, regional and national levels, including the radio sector. My Department has consulted extensively with stakeholders regarding the proposed approach and is currently finalising the broad parameters of the schemes. This will inform their detailed design and implementation by Coimisiún na Mean. State aid approval may also be required from the European Commission and will be sought in parallel. I believe these new schemes will play a key role in ensuring the provision of high-quality reporting on local authority meetings and court proceedings, which are fundamental matters of public interest.

Deputy Michael McNamara

The Sound and Vision scheme sounds great but we both know, and it is important to outline to the House, that in reality it provides funding for documentaries and one-off measures on local radio stations rather than their day-to-day news and current affairs output, which is of a very high quality, whereas RTÉ's news and current affairs output is funded continuously or was up to now through the licence fee.

The reason I support the licence fee is that prosecutions are taken and it is an offence not to have a licence. An Post can recover the cost of the prosecution in the event that it is successful. However, recent announcements by District Court judges seem to suggest - at least in those instances - that An Post will not be able to recover the full cost or the majority of the cost of prosecuting people who do not have television licences. If this continues, the licence fee will fall off and a large cohort of people will not pay it. Clearly, there are people who will pay just because it is the law but others will realise that there are no consequences for not paying the licence fee and until a decision is made, RTÉ will just move further and further into debt.

Deputy Catherine Martin

That is why I have always set out the good that comes from people paying their television licence fee. I understand the anger in the past few weeks, particularly among the public. The licence fee is a legal requirement but it is also fundamentally about protecting public service broadcasting as a public good that benefits us all. It is vital to emphasise the importance of public service broadcasting to our democracy and society. The widespread public anger at the revelations in recent weeks is understandable but we cannot lose sight of the public good that is public service broadcasting.

As I said, €6 million has been allocated for the establishment of the media fund this year, which is very much a step in the right direction for what the Deputy is seeking. We have chosen to prioritise the local democracy reporting and the courts reporting schemes. These schemes concern things that are very much of a local nature. I suspect that local radio licences will apply and if successful, will become beneficiaries of this scheme.

Deputy Michael McNamara

Public service broadcasting is indeed important but the question is how to define it. Public service broadcasting is not about telling people what to think. Sometimes one might look at the output of our national broadcaster and see a deliberate attempt to tell people how to think on major matters as opposed to reporting what happens. A lot of media - not just broadcast media - has moved into the realm of telling people what is the most appropriate way to think.

As the Covid pandemic took hold in Ireland, I recall the then director general of RTÉ Dee Forbes writing an email to all Members of the Oireachtas telling us RTÉ would unify the people. I found it a bit worrying because it was the kind of thing you might expect from a state broadcaster on the far side of the Iron Curtain 30 years ago.

I do not believe the role of a broadcaster is to unify people behind a Government position. The role of a broadcaster is to probe and examine, and it failed to do that a lot of the time with regard to its coverage of the pandemic, which was bolstered, of course, by the fact it was getting additional moneys from the State in the forms of vast sums of money from the HSE, a little bit less from the Department of Health, and indeed other Departments to fund its very one-sided coverage which was lacking any sort of probing of the appropriateness of the response.

Deputy Catherine Martin

However, in an era of growing disinformation and polarisation in public discourse and society at large, the ongoing provision of quality reporting and content is vital. It is important to draw a distinction between the actions of certain individuals and the many dedicated staff within RTÉ who continue to work hard to bring us high-quality news, entertainment, sport, music and drama, even in the midst of this unprecedented crisis in the organisation. This is made possible largely through funding from TV licence payments. I understand the anger among the public but I ask everyone to think of the absolute value of public service broadcasting to society and to our democracy and that paying the TV licence is the law of the land.