Senior figures in broadcasting are to meet in Dublin today at a public session of the newly established Forum on Broadcasting.
The meeting, at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, takes place against a backdrop of growing financial uncertainty at RTÉ, and fresh calls from the company's management for an increase in the licence fee.
RTÉ director-general, Mr Bob Collins, said yesterday that the company's deficit would exceed €20 million next year unless there was a fee increase. With the company expecting to lose a similar figure this year, he said, it would have no choice but to cut back on the range of services it provided.
Today's meeting will focus on RTÉ's public-service broadcasting role and on whether it is fulfilling that role adequately.
Speaking on the issue on Today with Vincent Browne, Mr Collins said: "The Government last year described what we are providing as the minimum level of service that the audience is entitled to expect. I agree with that characterisation of it. It is the minimum. We should be doing more. We want to do more in certain areas of programming... it costs money."
In a separate development yesterday, RTÉ denied media reports suggesting it had recently used public funding to depress advertising rates. "While it is true to say that the cost of advertising dropped in the last quarter of 2001, it is absolutely untrue to suggest that this was in any way connected with the licence fee increase," the company said in a statement.
Rather, it said, the drop in rates reflected a downward trend in the demand for advertising worldwide.
The forum, which will meet for eight hours today, was established last March by the former Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, following her decision to refuse RTÉ another licence fee increase. It is charged with making recommendations by July 31st to her successor, the Minister for Communications and Natural Resources, Mr Ahern.
The forum has already met a number of times in private.
Discussions are to take place under four headings: Regulation and Technology; Public-Service Broadcasting; Culture and Community; and Competition and the Commercial Environment.
Among the speakers will be Mr Michael O'Keeffe of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, Mr Dermot Hanrahan of the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland, Prof John Coulihan of NUI Maynooth, and representatives from the Irish Film Board and Filmmakers of Ireland.
The meeting is to be facilitated by Mr Raymond Snoddy, media editor of The Times, and the author of a number of books on the media.
All those who made submissions to the forum have been invited to attend.
A spokeswoman for the body said it had chosen to limit the number of participants to 150 so that discussions would be productive.
In its submission to the forum, RTÉ points out that "nowhere in our national law or in the policy and legislation of the European Union is there a definition of public-service broadcasting, or of what constitutes a public-service programme."
Instead, the 1960 Broadcasting Act sets out in general terms the role of RTÉ, and its governing authority. Section 28 (2) of the Act says the authority should ensure a comprehensive range of programmes is provided in the Irish and English languages, and that these programmes "reflect the cultural diversity of the whole island of Ireland".
Live coverage of today's forum session will be broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 medium wave from 9.03 a.m. to 12.15 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. to 5 p.m. An edited highlights programme will be broadcast on RTÉ 1 at 11.35 p.m.
