Committee rejects broadcast levy

The controversial levy which would fund the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) is now facing renewed opposition from politicians on all sides.

In a rare move, Government and opposition politicians unanimously agreed at committee stage to reject the proposed levy as it stands.

It has been imposed upon broadcasters to fund the BAI which is the industry regulator. It was set up in October last year.

The independent television and radio sector have claimed that the proposed 26 per cent increase in the BAI budget is unsustainable at a time when the industry is suffering a severe downturn.

The Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources passed a motion proposed by its chairman Fianna Fáil TD MJ Nolan that the statutory instrument bringing the levy into place should be annulled.

The motion would allow the committee to review the cost effectiveness of the service in light of its impact on the broadcasting industry in the current economic climate.

Mr Nolan said the BAI had failed to answer a lot of questions of how it proposed to operate and he shared the concerns of all the members of the committee who felt the increase in budget from €5.2 million last year to €7.6 million this year was unjustifiable when many broadcasters were facing a 20 per cent to 30 per cent cut in their incomes.

The levy is currently before both houses of the Oireachtas and will come into place on Thursday week if no attempt is made to reject it.

Mr Nolan said he would now convey the views of the members to the Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan in the hope that the Government will order a review of the levy.

“They (the BAI) will get a levy, but it will have to be in keeping with the economic climate,” he said.

Fine Gael Communications spokesman Simon Coveney said it was “not acceptable” that politicians were being asked to approve a levy without seeing details of how the money would be spent.

He criticised the BAI for not publishing its work plan on its website as it proposed to do in advance of the levy’s approval.

Labour communications spokeswoman Liz McManus said they were being asked to approve something which would have a detrimental impact on the finances of smaller radio stations without knowing what they were supposed to be funding.

She and other members of the committee criticised the BAI for paying €150,000 to outside consultants PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) to employ a financial controller and collect the levy.

BAI chief executive Michael O’Keeffe said they were aware of the concerns of independent broadcasters.

He told members that the BAI had taken over the functions of both the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC) which had a combined budget of €6.4.

In addition, the BAI had now to regulate RTÉ for the first time. It also had to provide new codes for advertising and standards and also on impartiality.

He explained that the authority had been finally given the go ahead by its board earlier this month and the budget was being finalised in that context.

He said they were striving to keep costs low and any surplus money not spent would be returned to broadcasters at the end of the financial year.