Sir, – In the article “TV licence fee is here to stay under one name or another” (Opinion & Analysis, October 4th), Peter Feeney does not mention the Future of Media Commission report published in July 2022.
In chapter five of that report, the commission goes into extensive detail about the merits or otherwise of a TV licence, a household media charge and direct exchequer funding to fund public service media in Ireland. The report details in particular all the arguments against a device-based charge and a household media charge in Ireland, which, for the commission, were compelling.
The commission concluded: “To ensure the stability and predictability of funding, awards should be provided from the Central Fund on a multi-annual basis, based on detailed costed proposals by the Media Commission, operating independently from government and media stakeholders . . . The Commission recommends a minimum funding period of at least three years, with consideration be given to the merits of a longer period.”
Whether the Government decides to continue to collect a dedicated tax to fund public service media is a matter for the Government. The Future of Media Commission reported: “The Department (of Finance noted that, as a point of principle, it has long been resistant to the hypothecation of tax revenues.”
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Be that as it may, the funding of public service media generally in many EU member states does come from some form of dedicated taxation. The challenge is to work out how it can be done fairly and efficiently.
What the Government did say is that not all of it will go to RTÉ.
What is crucial for RTÉ is stability and predictability. Multi-annual funding, guaranteed from the exchequer, regardless of what is collected from any dedicated tax, and preferably on a five-year basis, so that it falls outside of the electoral cycle, would secure that stability and predictability.
It would also secure that editorial independence, so vital to its future credibility and the trust of Irish audiences. RTÉ going to Government to look for annual bailouts based on falling dedicated tax revenues being collected or not collected, does not secure and protect that editorial independence. – Yours, etc,
JAMES HICKEY,
Dublin 2.