Micheál Martin says RTÉ licence fee could be brought down if it was collected by Revenue
Tánaiste favours a mandatory charge for 100pc returns
Micheál Martin dismissed concerns over Revenue proposal. Photo: Getty
The contentious TV licence charge could be brought down from €160 per year if it is collected by Revenue, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said.
His view puts him at odds with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Media Minister Catherine Martin, who both favour funding RTÉ from the Exchequer.
The Coalition is split on the future of the TV licence, with ministers Michael McGrath and Paschal Donohoe both believing the annual charge should be kept.
The Tánaiste said the returns from the charge, if collected by Revenue, would be “100pc” and that would mean the €160 fee could be “conceivably” brought down.
He dismissed concerns that Revenue operating the charge would be a new tax for people, similar to water charges.
Mr Martin said it would not be a new charge, it just “makes it mandatory”, adding that “the majority of people” already pay it.
He criticised scrapping the licence fee saying “total government support” for public service media in RTÉ, as well as radio and newspapers, would make it difficult to separate media and the Government. He warned this may lead to “unhealthy consequences” for democracy.
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“The idea that a government or a central government in the future would actually be the decision-maker in respect of how much media gets every year, I think, then could lead to whole other unhealthy consequences of democracy,” Mr Martin said.
“We may think, ‘ah we’ll be grand, we’ll keep the dividing lines and all of that’, but we see what happens all over the world.
“That’s a very serious issue which can’t be just fudged.”
Ministers have also previously warned of the possible consequences of having RTÉ solely funded by the Government if Sinn Féin came into power.
RTÉ receives around €200m a year from TV licence sales.
The Fianna Fáil leader said the Government will “have to” sign off on initial plans to overhaul the TV licence fee by the summer so that any legislation changes can be passed during the lifetime of the Government.
American politicians have been praising the TV licence model and the way media is funded by the public in meetings with Mr Martin in Washington this week.
“In Washington people said this to me, ‘you guys in Ireland are lucky’,” Mr Martin said.
“Here, you have a lot of private behemoths, be it Fox and MSNBC and they have very definitive political viewpoints.”
He said politicians “always criticise” and are “never happy with the media” and “every politician gives out, complains” about coverage.
“Stand back – we have something important in Ireland and we have a job to try and get that to the public, that this is important. That media matters, it mattered during Covid-19 in particular.”
His comments come as two key government-commissioned reports into RTÉ’s governance and culture are due in the coming weeks.
Ms Martin has said the Government will make a decision on overhauling how the broadcaster is funded after those reports come in.
