Dáil Communications committee TD opposes plan to get Revenue to collect new TV licence

Press Release- Bríd Smith TD, People Before Profit    27/02/2018

Plan is a rerun of Household Charge and sets a bad precedent says Brid Smith TD

A Dáil report which recommends that the TV licence fee becomes a general broadcasting charge to be collected by the Revenue Commissioners has been attacked by one of the committee members.

Committee member Bríd Smith has dissented from some of the report’s recommendations and says that the proposal is a rerun of the household charge and would be a regressive move.

She said: “The proposal would apply to all households regardless of income or even if they availed of the service. I think using Revenue to collect unpopular charges sets another bad precedent and will rightly anger lots of people.”

The TD did support other recommendations and said she fully supports the need for increased funding for non-commercial good quality public broadcasting.

“I do support proposals to charge large companies a retransmission fee for example ( for RTE content) and other proposals such as a charge on internet services providers, as well as looking at the amount of revenue that now goes to advertising on non-traditional media sources to see where additional funding can be found. But concentrating just on households is a mistake and we did not really consider the impact the loss of this collection might have on An Post and some vulnerable post offices.”

The committee will discuss the report at its meeting today.

ENDS

Contact- Bríd Smith TD- 087 909 0166

Nick Lee (Press Officer)- 087 615 6473