I call for a debate with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources on the funding of public service broadcasting. Many of us in this House met the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland yesterday to tease out how television licence funding was being dispersed. Figures show clearly that 87% or €140 of the €160 licence fee goes to RTE and TG4. A further 6.6% is allocated to the sound and vision fund, but RTE and TG4 get 50% of that too, while 6.1% goes to An Post as the collection agent. A variety of stations provide and transmit programmes that have significant public service content. We need to look at the current funding model, the very high level of evasion of the TV licence fee and the fact that viewing methods and habits are changing. We must have a discussion on how the proposed broadcasting charge will work and how the moneys raised will be dispersed.

There are some very obvious questions we must address. Are we getting good value for the €140 of the €160 licence fee that goes to RTE? Why are our excellent local stations such as Galway Bay FM getting no support whatsoever, despite having a very significant level of public service content? Is it acceptable that RTE which is funded by the taxpayer refuses to reveal the salaries of its top earners? Its interviewers are always very aggressive with politicians and heads of various companies and organisations and look for transparency and openness, yet when data on presenters who are earning multiples of what the Taoiseach earns are sought by the Committee of Public Accounts, RTE runs for cover and hides behind a two-year disclosure rule. That is not acceptable. We also need to look at whether those presenters who earn very high salaries are giving us good value. Some benchmarking is called for in that regard. We need a much more level playing field. Local radio stations deliver high quality content and are providing a real service for their communities. They deserve support and when the proposed new funding model is constructed, I want to see local radio stations getting a share of the funding that will become available for public service broadcasting.

I am delighted that Senator Michael Mullins has raised this very important issue. It defies belief, after almost five years of the Government, that Fine Gael and Labour Party backbenchers have not been raising this issue on a consistent basis. I cannot understand why politicians, particularly from non-Dublin constituencies where local radio is very strong, have not been banging the drum on this issue. The local radio representative body, the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland, has been lobbying consistently on this issue. In fact, it made a presentation to the recent Fianna Fáil think-in along the lines outlined by the Senator. It also held a lobby day yesterday.

I suggest to the Deputy Leader that she make strong representations to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White, to abolish the obligation on local radio stations to pay the broadcast levy. That levy should be absorbed into the licence fee. I wish to declare an interest: I present a programme on Ocean FM in the north west. I am aware the levy costs that station €30,000 annually, which would go a long way towards employing one, if not two, people at the station, especially in the news, current affairs and sports departments, which are the most labour-intensive areas. That is why Senator Michael Mullins's outline of the issue is so pertinent and relevant. There is a need for a parallel fund to the sound and vision fund because that money is being split primarily between independent producers and RTE and is not going to the local radio stations. While I would welcome the abolition of the sound and vision fund, I understand this might create severe financial difficulties for the independent production sector. In that context, I do not want to wed myself to the view that it should be abolished, but there is definitely a need to review the question of where the money is coming from. The Independent Broadcasters of Ireland has put forward the contention, with which I agree, that if the licence fee was competently and efficiently collected by An Post, the evasion money, amounting to some €30 million, could go towards providing a fund for local radio stations to provide news, current affairs and sports coverage.

To pick up on the point made by Senator Michael Mullins about collecting the licence fee, despite all the marketing taking place on television and radio to encourage people to buy television licences, An Post is inherently inefficient in collecting the money. The evasion rate is 20% compared to a rate of only 5% in the United Kingdom. The collection agency in the United Kingdom is a private company, although An Post is almost a private company at this stage. The Minister must ask questions as to the reasons An Post is not more efficient in collecting the licence fee. What is wrong? Why do we have an evasion rate that is far above international norms? Senator Michael Mullins asked similar questions of the Deputy Leader, given that the licence fee comes within the purview of the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White, who is also a member of the Labour Party. Priority should be given to the abolition of the levy imposed on local radio stations, as such a step would free them up financially, at least in the short term, and allow them to provide more jobs.