Dee Forbes banging the RTE TV licence drum again 60m uncollected fee *poll not working - pl ignore*

sligojoek

I've said it before and I'll say it again. 50 to 66 % of the ads during the shows of the "talent" are for the shows of the other "talent". Joe Duffy carries two ads for Ray Darcy in the first break. One will be a clip from a previous show and the other is "Coming up after Liveline" . Ray Darcy carries ads for Drivetime. Drivetime caries ads for Morning Ireland . Morning Ireland advertises Tubridy. Tubridy's show plugs Sean |O Rourke , And the circle goes on. The next big spenders are the government agencies with road safety , security cameras etc. RTE supporting the arts. Love your orchestra . Then there's an odd paying ad from actual advertisers.

the_pen_turner

sligojoek wrote: »

I've said it before and I'll say it again. 50 to 66 % of the ads during the shows of the "talent" are for the shows of the other "talent". Joe Duffy carries two ads for Ray Darcy in the first break. One will be a clip from a previous show and the other is "Coming up after Liveline" . Ray Darcy carries ads for Drivetime. Drivetime caries ads for Morning Ireland . Morning Ireland advertises Tubridy. Tubridy's show plugs Sean |O Rourke , And the circle goes on. The next big spenders are the government agencies with road safety , security cameras etc. RTE supporting the arts. Love your orchestra . Then there's an odd paying ad from actual advertisers.

exactly and adds about the tv licence being value for money.

if they stopped that nonscense and sold those slots to actual advertisers they would have a lot more money

Atlantic Dawn

And don't forget Joe Duffy promoting his warez gratis over state media.

fritzelly

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

And don't forget Joe Duffy promoting his warez gratis over state media.

That always grates with me, ffs any other company you would not get away with that!
But hey just a few months to go before he starts playing the Gay Byrne christmas cake joke again on repeat

Atlantic Dawn

fritzelly wrote: »

No issue for tax relief on things like this as it's usually a thankless and underpaid job most of the time for most people
It allows for culture to grow without being burdened with tax liabilities else there would be no culture in the world

What about the fairness of an apprentice mechanic starting off on lowest of the low salary allowed a whole €85 a year expected to build a tool collection costing in the thousands?

sligojoek

the_pen_turner wrote: »

exactly and adds about the tv licence being value for money.

if they stopped that nonscense and sold those slots to actual advertisers they would have a lot more money

How did I forget that one?

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

And don't forget Joe Duffy promoting his warez gratis over state media.

On both his Twitter accounts.

fritzelly

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

What about the fairness of an apprentice mechanic starting off on lowest of the low salary allowed a whole €85 a year expected to build a tool collection costing in the thousands?

Dont wanna get in to the semantics of the different trades but when the mechanic buys that stuff they usually have them for life with the odd replacement
Every apprentice starts on on crap wages with the opportunity to earn far better wages. Artists and musicians et al don't have that in the normal case of events

Calhoun

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/put-new-broadcast-charge-on-utility-bills-rt-chief-38370891.html

Looks like Dee weighing in, the story isn't dying down at the moment. Poor old wee Richard cannot get a break.

Pa ElGrande

Calhoun wrote: »

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/put-new-broadcast-charge-on-utility-bills-rt-chief-38370891.html

Looks like Dee weighing in, the story isn't dying down at the moment. Poor old wee Richard cannot get a break.

Dee Forbes wrote:

Adding the charge on to a gas or electricity bill will be efficient and easy, Ms Forbes said.

“A system linked to utility firms collecting a household media charge” is a tried and trusted solution elsewhere, she said.

source

We have the carbon tax battle or does anyone pay attention to their electricity bills? the Irish wind energy association (wind turbines), Society of the Irish Motor Industry (electric/hybrid cars) and Irish Electric Bicycle Association and others have first dibs on that.

Will the €80 per tonne carbon tax rate be the end point?

A carbon tax will complement moves to reduce emissions but a wide range of climate actions are essential given what’s facing the world due to global warming caused by human activity. Going beyond the €80 per tonne rate after 2030 is inevitable. The true cost of carbon, if accounting for its warming impact, is at least €200 per tonne.

source

further in the article

Minister Bruton said that even though the new broadcast charge will include a wider range of digital and tech devices, the Government doesn't yet know whether enforcement is possible under GDPR.

"You have me there," he said, when asked about detection of such devices in the context of data privacy law.

Mr Bruton was also unable to clarify whether any household in the country would be able to legally avoid the new charge.

"We will have to work out the definition of a device-independent charge," he said.

At present, one in 10 households avoids the €160 TV licence fee by not having a traditional television set. The Government wants to cut this down by making devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones liable for a replacement broadcasting charge.

source

These devices access the rte.ie domain over the TCP/IP protocol, since Netflix can restrict access there is no technological reason RTE cannot implement a subscription model for customers who use such devices as laptops and smartphones.

beggars_bush

Simple solution

Attach the charge to the already in place property tax.
Landlords can pass charge onto tenants.

Any households exempt get charge attached to welfare payments received.

Oh, and completely reform how RTE is run

Shefwedfan

beggars_bush wrote: »

Simple solution

Attach the charge to the already in place property tax.
Landlords can pass charge onto tenants.

Any households exempt get charge attached to welfare payments received.

Oh, and completely reform how RTE is run

Why is that a simple solution?

It just means another tax on young families, Why doesn’t RTÉ clean it’s house up for next 5 years and offer a decent service...then review....at the moment I’m not actual willing to pay 20 euro for the poor content they show, they have little to no sports and current affairs is just telling us what Leo wore at the Galway races

Pa ElGrande

beggars_bush wrote: »

Simple solution

Attach the charge to the already in place property tax.
Landlords can pass charge onto tenants.

Any households exempt get charge attached to welfare payments received.

Oh, and completely reform how RTE is run

That's not a solution. The property tax has to be divvied up for other causes RTE would only get a slice of the pie, the incentive under such a system is to drive up the costs of the iron rice bowl year after year. (i.e. ask for more that you need and justify it later).




With subscription services they can interact directly with their customers and provide value for money. That gives them customer feedback an makes them more responsive and innovative and provides an incentive to control their costs.

jimmynokia

Subscription fee BY CHOICE OR PPV and get rid of the high paid stars,there is newer better talent out there that will cost less. Also cut Dee Forbes salary, that will sort it.

RabbleRouser2k

That is what I was thinking as well-I mean, why make something mandatory? Especially if you don't have devices.
OR if you don't even use RTE, but have Netflix and other services instead.

And considering it's 5 years away, are RTE going to have to prove they're actually making any kind of shape of improving their services? Some way to justify a mandatory charge?

sexmag

This is my favourite bit

"Ms Forbes said she welcomed Minister Bruton's move to tighten up TV licence collection fees by shifting to another collection system and said adding the licence fee to household utility bills could be a way forward.

"This has happened in other markets," she said on RTÉ's 'News At One'. "Italy had a very positive collection rate. They linked it to electricity and compliance was at such a level they ended up reducing the licence fee."

Shes basically trying to imply by having a higher compliance rate they will reduce the cost of the fee, maybe reduce the cost of wages you pay ridiculous broadcasters

Shefwedfan

sexmag wrote: »

This is my favourite bit

"Ms Forbes said she welcomed Minister Bruton's move to tighten up TV licence collection fees by shifting to another collection system and said adding the licence fee to household utility bills could be a way forward.

"This has happened in other markets," she said on RTÉ's 'News At One'. "Italy had a very positive collection rate. They linked it to electricity and compliance was at such a level they ended up reducing the licence fee."

Shes basically trying to imply by having a higher compliance rate they will reduce the cost of the fee, maybe reduce the cost of wages you pay ridiculous broadcasters

I did notice that bit.....as if throwing more money at RTE would suddenly mean they would hand back some


Its a black hole over their.....any more money goes into the top quality presentors.....like all the World is looking for a radio presentor of the quality of Lotty Ryan

Bass Reeves

You should have heard Pat Rabbit and Michael McDowell on Radio 1 news after 6pm last night

Pa ElGrande

Bass Reeves wrote: »

You should have heard Pat Rabbit and Michael McDowell on Radio 1 news after 6pm last night

Do enlighten us was it a "public service broadcasting" (i.e. RTE) lovefest with digs at the political opposition or were any alternatives provided?

SPDUB

the_pen_turner wrote: »

exactly and adds about the tv licence being value for money.

if they stopped that nonscense and sold those slots to actual advertisers they would have a lot more money

They are not allowed to sell those slots , their advertising is limited to IIRC 6 minutes per hour compared to the Independent stations where it is 12 minutes per hour .


They did apply to the Minster of Communications for an increase in ad minutes last year but I haven't heard anything about that since

"This has happened in other markets," she said on RTs 'News At One'. "Italy had a very positive collection rate. They linked it to electricity and compliance was at such a level they ended up reducing the licence fee."

Shes basically trying to imply by having a higher compliance rate they will reduce the cost of the fee, maybe reduce the cost of wages you pay ridiculous broadcasters

It's not her decision anyway but the Governments but's she right .

Somebody did the calculations already and worked out you could drop the licence fee to €145 approx. if everyone paid and RTE would still get the same money

If the Government want to sweeten it politically for existing licence payers then they should drop the fee to €155 or even €150

the_pen_turner

SPDUB wrote: »

They are not allowed to sell those slots , their advertising is limited to IIRC 6 minutes per hour compared to the Independent stations where it is 12 minutes per hour .


They did apply to the Minster of Communications for an increase in ad minutes last year but I haven't heard anything about that since

so why do they put loads of minutes of rubbish on instead. are they aware that most people dont watch this. most mute the tv or make a cup of tea or apuse and fast forward etc. very few actually pay attention to the ads. diluting them with rubbish only means people see less of them

Bass Reeves

Pa ElGrande wrote: »

Do enlighten us was it a "public service broadcasting" (i.e. RTE) lovefest with digs at the political opposition or were any alternatives provided?

Really balanced they had a NUJ representive as well, listen to it at round 1H40M mark

https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/radio1/11071924

badabing106

Does anybody know why they arent showing the GAA quarterfinals on rte today? Donegal vs Mayo and Kerry vs Meath? Not on tg4 either

There is ladies camogie on instead.

Is it a funding issue

Boggles

badabing106 wrote: »

Does anybody know why they arent showing the GAA quarterfinals on rte today? Donegal vs Mayo and Kerry vs Meath? Not on tg4 either

There is ladies camogie on instead.

Is it a funding issue

Competition.

Sky have the rights.

Pa ElGrande

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Really balanced they had a NUJ representive as well, listen to it at round 1H40M mark

https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/radio1/11071924

It starts 1 hour 39 minutes in


Mary Wilson: Well, Minister Richard Bruton today introduced proposals for considerable reform of the TV licence mechanisms. They include reforms to the existing TV licence and a tender for the next 5 years for its collection after that a new device independent broadcasting charge will be introduced to replace the current TV only model of charging. So has minister Bruton kicked the decision into touch? well the director general of RTE Dee Forbes spoke to the news at one and she said that change is not coming fast enough. Now to discuss the tender and the decision to wait 5 years for the introduction of a new charging model I'm joined by Pat Rabbitte, former Labour minister for communications, by senator Michael McDowell and in studio Seamus Dooley who is general secretary of the national union of journalists. Pat Rabbitte, this all started with you back in 2013 and the program for government in 2011. Do you welcome todays announcement then, by minister Richard Bruton, or, or, is this a household charge, am, which is what those against the proposal will content?


Pat Rabbitte: Well Mary, {inaudible} in 2014 and it was derailed by the water charges protests, but it was ready to go because it was acknowledged across Europe that citizens nowadays access public service content on platforms other that the traditional TV in the corner of the room and where you have 50 million being evaded it is an issue that must be addressed. Now I suppose you address it depending on where you stand on public service broadcasting, If you think this is a distinctive country that has something {??} to itself about and you value the character of our public discourse in politics and you have regard to our cultural distinctiveness and so on then it seems to me that you must accept the public service broadcasting is a public good and I have to say I have never heard a more meaningless announcement in politics than todays announcement and I'm surprised that Richard Bruton would allow his name to be associate with . .

MW: Well listen, Pat Rabbitte, before we go maybe lets hear what he did announce, lets just hear that.

Richard Bruton: There is a huge transformation going on in how people consume media and that's creating huge broadcasting problems for both public and private. So its against that background that working group reviewed it and it has proposed that we would immediately tended out the licence collection fee for 5 years to put it on a firmer footing so that could reduce evasion, give an incentive to improve the database and, and, get it in a better footing immediately, but we also need to move in, over the next 5 years to establish a system which would not be tied to ownership of television but would be, not be device dependent, the working group looked at that but found that the complexity of it would need time to develop, so rather than do nothing we are making changes immediately, We are also providing that half of the administration costs of the BAI could be paid from the levy so that will lower the, the levies that apply to community and independent broadcasters.

MW: I'll come back to you in a minute Pat Rabitte, but Michael McDowell, I think everyone is agreed, am, that not just that huge change is coming, but we are living in a time of huge change, but, am, what's going to happen in 5 years time?

Michael McDowell: Well, I have to, I'm sorry to disappoint you perhaps but I totally agree with Pat Rabbitte, I regard that announcement as completely devoid of common sense. I think that we have to face up to the issue now and that is that public service broadcasting requires to be funded, but the good as Pat has said, the public good or public service broadcasting must be borne by the entire community. It is completely unrealistic in this day and age to say that some people can kind of opt out by not{w} having a handheld device or a tablet or a laptop or whatever, am I mean Pat ran into trouble at the time of the water charges thing with the "cave tax" as it was called at the time, but 5 years have gone by. I've been at this Oireachtas committee pressing on various ministers to do something about this, there is an obvious way to deal with it and that is to impose it on a charge on every household in the country. We have the local property tax base the revenue operating it, the amount of, am, am, additional administration would be very, very small if they chose to collect it and I would say you know that the time has come, gone for, you know, inspectors going around to peoples homes to see what instruments they have in the house. Ads on television bombarding you about your obligation to pay the tax, people being bought to courts, and district judges that have lists of 50 and 60 people before them, ya, you know, the time has come to deal with this and I really do believe that this is as kicking the can down the road exercise.

MW: Ok, Lets see where Seamus Dooley, the National Union of Journalists stands on this on, Seamus?

Seamus Dooley: Yeah, I would describe this as the sort of Saint Augustine approach to efficiency, make be efficient Lord, but in another 5 years time. It is absurd beyond belief, ah, I met the minister 3 weeks ago with Patricia King, representative of the NUJ and SIPTU. We emphasised the urgency of this reform and the notion that waiting for 5 years, with all of the complications of a general election in between is something that is deeply worrying for me, I think there is a real problem here that is not being confronted, the national public service broadcaster is in crisis, the minister is very keen on invoking a working party as the excuse for what is being presented today, but yet has ignored the recommendations of the BAI in relation to €30 million extra for RTE. So it's a selective reliance on external advice.

MW: But, here's the thing, ah, Pat Rabbitte, you were in a government with a strong majority and you couldn't push it on through, and here we are now in a situation where, ah, you are talking about a government imposing a charge on people, perhaps people who say I don't watch public service . . ..

PR: No Mary. You are not. The fact of the matter is that if you are paying your television licence you have nothing to fear from a broadcasting charge, because the amount is the same, it was my intention to, if I was able to implement it in 2014, that it would be €5 less than the licence and, by the way can I make that point about Richard Bruton and the 5 years, the reason he gave in his interview was that he needs time to think about future proofing it, what alternative devices will be coming down the road at us in the future, apparently somehow he thinks that in 5 years time he'll be better able to divine that. I mean there will always be changes in technology, ah, it is a meaningless announcement because, 5 years time, just in time for another general election, so we won't implement it then, It is important to say that people who are compliant, people who are paying their licence fee will not be charged more and, as I say when I was handling it in 2014 they would be charged moderately less, It is the people who are evading the €50 million that is not going to RTE, It is the people who are evading who are making all the complaints, and by the way Mary I never recall getting a single complaint when I was minister about paying €2 or €3 or €4 hundred to Sky Sports, that was never an issue, but it's an issue, I used to get these long letters complaining pointing out that people that never watched RTE {} to analyse a program that he had seen and criticised it

MW: {interrupts}Then, OK, Michael McDowell

PR: and so on . . . We need to come into the 21st century.

MW: Picking up on Pat Rabbittes point though is there a job of persuasion needed and a job maybe of explaining why public service broadcasting, explaining why, having an Irish service is important in this country?

MMcD: I think there is a job, work to be done on that and I don't think it's too difficult a job. I mean we now live in the era of fake news, I mean there is a technological development that Richard Bruton is well aware of. The only antidote to that is solid good independent broadcasting with standards set down by statute which is what RTE is doing and the other news carrying media are doing as well, but, can I just make this point I think, I agree with Pat, ah, there are people who just don't want to pay, that's true, there are injustices in the present system which I think are a bot ludicrous, I mean, For instance, am, If you lived in a house in, say Baldoyle, and you had a caravan down in, am, Gorey you'd be expected at the moment to buy two licences, which would cost you €320, and if you were paying at the marginal rate of tax that could cost you €640 just to keep those two licences. There are changes to be made and I don't think there's, you know, ah, Dee Forbes who regards this an an ATM for RTE in the present circumstances, I think there are some changes to be made, but, there is no excuse for not using the existing mechanisms that are there, the revenue commissioners know every household in the country, they are in a position to levy the local property tax on us. I can't see why a quick decision can't be made to implement this properly and I read in the papers today that they think that Captita, a private enterprise company and Irish Water {faded} compete for this work .. .

MW: Capita, I think they collect in the UK. Seamus Dooley, the immediate, the immediate, issue here the collection of the licence fee at the moment, the evasion at about 13%, ah, take this, do you subscribe to the view that it should be taken away from An Post? Will it stay with An Post?

SD: Well, I think first of all can I say that An Post has shown that it can deliver and when it comes to delivery service and the parcel service it can deliver, but it has not.

MW: deliver parcels

SD: but it has not delivered, in haw not delivered on the licence fee increase and I refuse to believe that it is beyond the imagination of a minister who has a bot of a reputation for getting things, achieving things, that he shouldn't grab it by the scruff of the neck and say you are getting money for this do it right. I agree with the senator that if it's not going to be An Post it should be the revenue commissioners, but I certainly do not believe that it should be outsourced and one of the common threads of the ministers speech today is privatisation theme, both in relation to collection, but also taking more money from RTE for independent public, independent production. I think there is far too much emphasis in the debate today, in as much as there has been a debate around the mechanics and the platforms, rather than the vision and the passion of what public service broadcasting is today.

MW: Pat Rabbitte

SD: If you want to know what is affected by this, what will be affected is, imagine an Ireland without PrimeTime Investigates form last week, that's what you are talking about. .

MW: Pat Rabbitte how would you collect the current licence fee?

PR: Well I think the efficacy of the collection system has been am issue, there is no doubt about that, ah, but, ah, you know, the bigger issue I suspect is the question of your philosophical approach to whether or now we need a public service broadcaster, and if Richard Bruton is reflecting the view of the government that by squeezing, RTE more, they are going to improve the quality of the output he's wrong. There are issues as Michael McDowell said, you know for example there, I remember tussling with issues about a television licence in a place of business you know if you own a hotel with 600 rooms, you pay one television licence, if you own 5 chalets in West Clare you need 5, ah, television licences, there are small things like that were being ironed out, but the issue, the excuse for not implementing it being that we don't know what devices are coming down the road at us ass if it would be any different in 5 years time, is a signal to me that this government wants to squeeze RTE, now you know, there has been a healthy tension between every government that we've had since RTE was established, and RTE, and that's as it should be and certainly RTE would drive your blood pressure up on occasion . .

MW: {Smiling} We don't intend to do that

PR: but that's not the reason, that's now a reason for reducing ones conviction about the value and merit of public service broadcasting, because in the world that we live in today of fake news and government by treat and imported pap, it's all the more important that we have an indigenous domestic producer of content that's relative culturally, politically, socially to the Irish situation.

MW: And we'll give you the last word Pat Rabbitte. Thank you very much Michael McDowell and Seamus Dooley.

Bass Reeves

Pa ElGrande wrote: »

It starts 1 hour 39 minutes in


Mary Wilson: Well, Minister Richard Bruton today introduced proposals for considerable reform of the TV licence mechanisms. They include reforms to the existing TV licence and a tender for the next 5 years for its collection after that a new device independent broadcasting charge will be introduced to replace the current TV only model of charging. So has minister Bruton kicked the decision into touch? well the director general of RTE Dee Forbes spoke to the news at one and she said that change is not coming fast enough. Now to discuss the tender and the decision to wait 5 years for the introduction of a new charging model I'm joined by Pat Rabbitte, former Labour minister for communications, by senator Michael McDowell and in studio Seamus Dooley who is general secretary of the national union of journalists. Pat Rabbitte, this all started with you back in 2013 and the program for government in 2011. Do you welcome todays announcement then, by minister Richard Bruton, or, or, is this a household charge, am, which is what those against the proposal will content?


Pat Rabbitte: Well Mary, {inaudible} in 2014 and it was derailed by the water charges protests, but it was ready to go because it was acknowledged across Europe that citizens nowadays access public service content on platforms other that the traditional TV in the corner of the room and where you have 50 million being evaded it is an issue that must be addressed. Now I suppose you address it depending on where you stand on public service broadcasting, If you think this is a distinctive country that has something {??} to itself about and you value the character of our public discourse in politics and you have regard to our cultural distinctiveness and so on then it seems to me that you must accept the public service broadcasting is a public good and I have to say I have never heard a more meaningless announcement in politics than todays announcement and I'm surprised that Richard Bruton would allow his name to be associate with . .

MW: Well listen, Pat Rabbitte, before we go maybe lets hear what he did announce, lets just hear that.

Richard Bruton: There is a huge transformation going on in how people consume media and that's creating huge broadcasting problems for both public and private. So its against that background that working group reviewed it and it has proposed that we would immediately tended out the licence collection fee for 5 years to put it on a firmer footing so that could reduce evasion, give an incentive to improve the database and, and, get it in a better footing immediately, but we also need to move in, over the next 5 years to establish a system which would not be tied to ownership of television but would be, not be device dependent, the working group looked at that but found that the complexity of it would need time to develop, so rather than do nothing we are making changes immediately, We are also providing that half of the administration costs of the BAI could be paid from the levy so that will lower the, the levies that apply to community and independent broadcasters.

MW: I'll come back to you in a minute Pat Rabitte, but Michael McDowell, I think everyone is agreed, am, that not just that huge change is coming, but we are living in a time of huge change, but, am, what's going to happen in 5 years time?

Michael McDowell: Well, I have to, I'm sorry to disappoint you perhaps but I totally agree with Pat Rabbitte, I regard that announcement as completely devoid of common sense. I think that we have to face up to the issue now and that is that public service broadcasting requires to be funded, but the good as Pat has said, the public good or public service broadcasting must be borne by the entire community. It is completely unrealistic in this day and age to say that some people can kind of opt out by not{w} having a handheld device or a tablet or a laptop or whatever, am I mean Pat ran into trouble at the time of the water charges thing with the "cave tax" as it was called at the time, but 5 years have gone by. I've been at this Oireachtas committee pressing on various ministers to do something about this, there is an obvious way to deal with it and that is to impose it on a charge on every household in the country. We have the local property tax base the revenue operating it, the amount of, am, am, additional administration would be very, very small if they chose to collect it and I would say you know that the time has come, gone for, you know, inspectors going around to peoples homes to see what instruments they have in the house. Ads on television bombarding you about your obligation to pay the tax, people being bought to courts, and district judges that have lists of 50 and 60 people before them, ya, you know, the time has come to deal with this and I really do believe that this is as kicking the can down the road exercise.

MW: Ok, Lets see where Seamus Dooley, the National Union of Journalists stands on this on, Seamus?

Seamus Dooley: Yeah, I would describe this as the sort of Saint Augustine approach to efficiency, make be efficient Lord, but in another 5 years time. It is absurd beyond belief, ah, I met the minister 3 weeks ago with Patricia King, representative of the NUJ and SIPTU. We emphasised the urgency of this reform and the notion that waiting for 5 years, with all of the complications of a general election in between is something that is deeply worrying for me, I think there is a real problem here that is not being confronted, the national public service broadcaster is in crisis, the minister is very keen on invoking a working party as the excuse for what is being presented today, but yet has ignored the recommendations of the BAI in relation to €30 million extra for RTE. So it's a selective reliance on external advice.

MW: But, here's the thing, ah, Pat Rabbitte, you were in a government with a strong majority and you couldn't push it on through, and here we are now in a situation where, ah, you are talking about a government imposing a charge on people, perhaps people who say I don't watch public service . . ..

PR: No Mary. You are not. The fact of the matter is that if you are paying your television licence you have nothing to fear from a broadcasting charge, because the amount is the same, it was my intention to, if I was able to implement it in 2014, that it would be €5 less than the licence and, by the way can I make that point about Richard Bruton and the 5 years, the reason he gave in his interview was that he needs time to think about future proofing it, what alternative devices will be coming down the road at us in the future, apparently somehow he thinks that in 5 years time he'll be better able to divine that. I mean there will always be changes in technology, ah, it is a meaningless announcement because, 5 years time, just in time for another general election, so we won't implement it then, It is important to say that people who are compliant, people who are paying their licence fee will not be charged more and, as I say when I was handling it in 2014 they would be charged moderately less, It is the people who are evading the €50 million that is not going to RTE, It is the people who are evading who are making all the complaints, and by the way Mary I never recall getting a single complaint when I was minister about paying €2 or €3 or €4 hundred to Sky Sports, that was never an issue, but it's an issue, I used to get these long letters complaining pointing out that people that never watched RTE {} to analyse a program that he had seen and criticised it

MW: {interrupts}Then, OK, Michael McDowell

PR: and so on . . . We need to come into the 21st century.

MW: Picking up on Pat Rabbittes point though is there a job of persuasion needed and a job maybe of explaining why public service broadcasting, explaining why, having an Irish service is important in this country?

MMcD: I think there is a job, work to be done on that and I don't think it's too difficult a job. I mean we now live in the era of fake news, I mean there is a technological development that Richard Bruton is well aware of. The only antidote to that is solid good independent broadcasting with standards set down by statute which is what RTE is doing and the other news carrying media are doing as well, but, can I just make this point I think, I agree with Pat, ah, there are people who just don't want to pay, that's true, there are injustices in the present system which I think are a bot ludicrous, I mean, For instance, am, If you lived in a house in, say Baldoyle, and you had a caravan down in, am, Gorey you'd be expected at the moment to buy two licences, which would cost you €320, and if you were paying at the marginal rate of tax that could cost you €640 just to keep those two licences. There are changes to be made and I don't think there's, you know, ah, Dee Forbes who regards this an an ATM for RTE in the present circumstances, I think there are some changes to be made, but, there is no excuse for not using the existing mechanisms that are there, the revenue commissioners know every household in the country, they are in a position to levy the local property tax on us. I can't see why a quick decision can't be made to implement this properly and I read in the papers today that they think that Captita, a private enterprise company and Irish Water {faded} compete for this work .. .

MW: Capita, I think they collect in the UK. Seamus Dooley, the immediate, the immediate, issue here the collection of the licence fee at the moment, the evasion at about 13%, ah, take this, do you subscribe to the view that it should be taken away from An Post? Will it stay with An Post?

SD: Well, I think first of all can I say that An Post has shown that it can deliver and when it comes to delivery service and the parcel service it can deliver, but it has not.

MW: deliver parcels

SD: but it has not delivered, in haw not delivered on the licence fee increase and I refuse to believe that it is beyond the imagination of a minister who has a bot of a reputation for getting things, achieving things, that he shouldn't grab it by the scruff of the neck and say you are getting money for this do it right. I agree with the senator that if it's not going to be An Post it should be the revenue commissioners, but I certainly do not believe that it should be outsourced and one of the common threads of the ministers speech today is privatisation theme, both in relation to collection, but also taking more money from RTE for independent public, independent production. I think there is far too much emphasis in the debate today, in as much as there has been a debate around the mechanics and the platforms, rather than the vision and the passion of what public service broadcasting is today.

MW: Pat Rabbitte

SD: If you want to know what is affected by this, what will be affected is, imagine an Ireland without PrimeTime Investigates form last week, that's what you are talking about. .

MW: Pat Rabbitte how would you collect the current licence fee?

PR: Well I think the efficacy of the collection system has been am issue, there is no doubt about that, ah, but, ah, you know, the bigger issue I suspect is the question of your philosophical approach to whether or now we need a public service broadcaster, and if Richard Bruton is reflecting the view of the government that by squeezing, RTE more, they are going to improve the quality of the output he's wrong. There are issues as Michael McDowell said, you know for example there, I remember tussling with issues about a television licence in a place of business you know if you own a hotel with 600 rooms, you pay one television licence, if you own 5 chalets in West Clare you need 5, ah, television licences, there are small things like that were being ironed out, but the issue, the excuse for not implementing it being that we don't know what devices are coming down the road at us ass if it would be any different in 5 years time, is a signal to me that this government wants to squeeze RTE, now you know, there has been a healthy tension between every government that we've had since RTE was established, and RTE, and that's as it should be and certainly RTE would drive your blood pressure up on occasion . .

MW: {Smiling} We don't intend to do that

PR: but that's not the reason, that's now a reason for reducing ones conviction about the value and merit of public service broadcasting, because in the world that we live in today of fake news and government by treat and imported pap, it's all the more important that we have an indigenous domestic producer of content that's relative culturally, politically, socially to the Irish situation.

MW: And we'll give you the last word Pat Rabbitte. Thank you very much Michael McDowell and Seamus Dooley.

Like I said very balanced:rolleyes:

Pa ElGrande

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Like I said very balanced:rolleyes:

About as balanced as a seesaw with a morbidly obese kid sitting on it.

Calhoun

https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/eilis-ohanlon-in-a-world-of-choice-no-one-would-choose-to-pay-for-rte-38372471.html

Hopefully we see more articles like these. I am not so much against a broadcasting charge as i am RTE.

Atlantic Dawn

Morning Ireland has more sponsers than the moon landing.

Bass Reeves

Dee Forbes proposes adding it to utility charges. While this may have the advantage of collecting it monthly or bi monthly, what happens when bills are not paid will the utility provider still have to cough up the licence fee even though they have not collected it. This will add onto other consumer bills in the long-term. Paul Murphy is winding up for another water charges protest if it is added to property tax. Not to mind the fact that it will then be property owners that will have to pay and collect it from tenants. And again propert owners will have to allow for absorbing losses from non payment. A landlord would have to add 200/ year onto rent to allow for non-payment and collection.

RTE have failed over the years to manage its platform. It repeats a huge amount of it productions, Because of the tripe it shows it is losing add revenue wholesale. It failures to hold any sort of audiences is costing it. In theory RTE 2 as well as 2fm are supposed to be commercial but it is hard to know if they are being partially funded by the licence fee

samjames

richard bruton introducing a universal charge which is the same only rehashed, i never watch rte or any of the irish stations as total rubbish, as for bruton never had any time for that man