This week Minister for Media Catherine Martin announced a public funding package of €725 million for RTÉ over the next three years, divided between licence fee revenue and exchequer contributions.
The move follows years of fraught discussion – with several options discussed and lobbied for – on how the national broadcaster should be funded.
Many had believed the licence fee model to be outdated, not least because it is based on actually owning a TV. And in any case, licence fee evasion in Ireland is well above European norms – the system for collecting it is based on unreliable data and old technology – and that’s before the Ryan Tubridy-centred controversy last year which saw a sharp drop in licence fee income.
And if money is coming directly from the government doesn’t that bring its own risks – from political bias to a new administration cutting off funds.
But is this new multiannual funding enough and is it fair? Irish Times media columnist Laura Slattery explains.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Aideen Finnegan and Declan Conlon.
