Solidarity-People Before Profit is next.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle; it is People Before Profit. Sixty people per day are now being prosecuted for not paying the TV licence. More than 13,000 people were brought to court last year and, if convicted, had to pay a fine of €1,000 or face a jail term. This is in the context of what is now a majority of eligible people refusing to pay the TV licence. It is an unjust, regressive tax that costs €160 for the richest family and €160 for the poorest eligible family. It was even reported at the weekend that the Taoiseach is in favour of scrapping this regressive tax and replacing it with direct Exchequer funding. We published our alternative model of RTÉ for the people and for how the big social media giants can be taxed. At the very least, will the Taoiseach agree at this point that there needs to be an amnesty? We have to stop dragging people through court for refusing to pay this unjust tax. There needs to be a commitment to scrap the TV licence.

I thank the Deputy. I am not in favour of tax amnesties and I am surprised to hear him advocating them. I thought it was something he was against. The law is clear. People have to pay the TV licence and I encourage people to pay the TV licence, not just because of the law but because of funds. It is really important to have public service broadcasting including the news, current affairs, children's programmes and Irish-language programming. While most of the money goes to RTÉ, it does not all go to RTÉ as it goes to other media outlets as well. That said, it is an outdated charge. It belongs to a different time and I am keen that we agree this year on a new mechanism to fund public service broadcasting, provide for that this year and have it in place for 2025.