Minister for Media Patrick O'Donovan has expressed his opposition to proposals for a levy on streaming services like Netflix, saying that people would be priced out of being able to purchase entertainment services.
Speaking on RTÉ's The Week in Politics, Mr O'Donovan said he did not see why a so-called 'Netflix levy' would be imposed on consumers, and would bring a memo to the Cabinet on the matter.
The legislation that established Comisiún na Méan provided for the streaming levy to be charged in order to provide funding for the production of home-produced programming.
Preparations for applying the levy had been taking place during the term of the previous minister, Catherine Martin.
Under the proposed changes Mr O'Donovan intends bringing to the legislation, the concept of levies on streaming platforms will be retained, but the decision to action such levies will have to be agreed by the minister.
Coimisiún na Meán, in a statement this morning, said it had presented Mr O'Donovan with a feasibility study for an audiovisual content levy and fund, as recommended by the Future of Media Commission.
It added that the minister "is currently considering the contents of the report and we are awaiting a response."
"As per the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, any scheme for any audiovisual content levy prepared by Coimisiún na Meán would need to be approved by the Minister."
Mr O’Donovan said people would end up being "priced out" of being able to purchase entertainment services such as Disney+ or Netflix should such a levy be introduced.
"People are paying enough" for entertainment, he said, adding that people who can afford to pay for streaming services "are doing so by choice".
"I don't see why I would impose a levy on top of those people, considering that it would, I believe, inevitably wind up being raised and raised substantially".
Sinn Féin's Claire Kerrane said the levy would cause "major backlash", while Labour's George Lawlor called on the minister to indicate where the money to invest in the indigenous industry will come from.
The television licence, Mr O'Donovan said, is "sufficient" to fund terrestrial television.
The minister said there is "lacuna in the law", adding the "minister should have the final say with regard to the imposition of a levy and the consumer".
"I'm going to address that by way of the Broadcasting Bill," he added.
RTÉ Funding
Mr O’Donovan also said that "in an age of challenges to our democracy, challenges to misinformation and disinformation and malinformation" it was important to have media sources other than RTÉ.
There was an almost "monopolistic" situation where RTÉ gets most of the license fee, commercial advertising, and also an ability to access the Sound and Vision funding, he said.
He said a light needed to be shone on other parts of the broadcasting sector that do not receive the level of exchequer funding but do carry out a public service broadcast "but aren’t kept on life support" like RTÉ, he added.
The Minister, who will bring new proposals for accountability at RTÉ to the Cabinet next week, said he wants to "avoid what we’ve seen in the past… where we saw everything from largesse to flip flops being purchased by the state broadcaster. "
"I have to have confidence as the shareholder and as the stakeholder that is answerable to the Dáil that I believe that everything that can be done is being done in terms of efficiencies, in terms of making sure the organisation is fit for purpose, in terms of making sure it is a leaner organisation that is fit for purpose."
He said the Government is putting €725m of public money into RTÉ and the least they can expect is an increased level of accountability.
He said the proposals he will bring to Cabinet under the Broadcasting Bill will address a lot of these matters.
Fianna Fáil TD 'surprised and disappointed' by O'Donovan's announcement
Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne has said that he is "surprised and disappointed" by Minister O'Donovan's comments on being opposed to proposals for a levy on streaming services like Netflix.
Deputy Byrne said was no intention to pass the levy on to Irish customers, but it was to be absorbed by the streamers so that "a pot of funding could be available for Independent productions here to continue to tell Irish stories."
Deputy Byrne, who was a vocal member of the last Oireachtas Media committee in the Dáil when he was a senator, said that the levy "had been agreed by the last Oireachtas".
He added: "I'm hoping the Cabinet won't act in haste and will reflect on all the detailed, evidenced based policy that underpins the plans to introduce a levy, to be able to support the independent film and television sector in Ireland."
He explained that no fixed figure had been set for a levy, but he envisaged a figure of "around 2-3% of the income nationally for the streamers, in keeping with other European jurisdictions".
"This sector is very valuable to Irish culture, and the economy but also in telling Irish stories nationally and internationally, " he concluded.
