The Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage has said that the issue of revising the television licence fee is being looked at by her colleague Minister Denis Naughten.
Speaking at the launch of the Government's Audiovisual Action Plan, Josepha Madigan said an economic report on the industry had recommended that the licence fee be revised, and that is something for the Minister for Communications to look at in more detail.
Ms Madigan said it does need to be looked at a bit differently, the world is changing and we need to move with the times and she said as far as she was aware, Minister Naughten was looking at it.
Minister Josepha Madigan says her colleague, Minister for Communications Denis Naughten, is looking at the issue of revising the television licence fee | https://t.co/IIYWhOAXGS pic.twitter.com/Ym9KRpv7L0
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 27, 2018
Her comments come after RTÉ announced in its annual report that it returned an operating net deficit of €6.4m last year.
RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes said that if the broadcaster's revenue did not improve, the entire Irish production sector will suffer.
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Speaking at this morning's launch, the Chairperson of Screen Producers Ireland, John Gormley, said the independent sector was losing up to €40m annually because of evasion and the fact that the licence fee had not been increased.
Ms Madigan also said she was aware of issues in the audio visual sector in relation to training, and that work is being done in that area.
The Minister said people working in the industry have to be protected when they are training.
