O'Donovan has ‘no notion' of abolishing TV licence fee or replacing it with tax on tech companies
Patrick O'Donovan
has insisted he has 'no notion' of abolishing the TV licence fee or replacing it with a tax on
big tech
companies.
Mr O'Donovan was responding in the Dáil to
People Before Profit (PBP) TD
Paul Murphy
, who described the licence fee as a 'regressive, unjust tax' where the richest and poorest households pay the same €160 fee.
Mr Murphy said increasing numbers are 'boycotting' the licence as he asked the Minister to instead tax the social media and technology giants to fund public service broadcasting.
'No, I won't, so that's the end of that,' said Mr O'Donovan. 'I have no notion of doing it. This is a fund that's in place to support RTÉ and public service broadcasters.'
READ MORE
It also supports the 'sound and vision' sectors, he said.
'I have no intention of replacing it and I have no intention of going down a cul-de-sac that Deputy Murphy would like us to do, which is a road to nowhere for RTÉ and everybody associated with broadcasting,' the Minister said. 'So the short answer is no.'
Mr Murphy said the 'tax is deeply unpopular and
licence sales have plummeted
'.
He said 950,000 paid in 2022. That figure dropped to 825,000 in 2023 and to 790,000 in 2024.
Mr Murphy said that was a fall of more than 155,000 households 'who are refusing to pay either in protest or because they cannot afford to pay this regressive flat tax, which takes no account of ability to pay'.
[
Why I stopped paying my TV licence fee: 'The whole model is broken'
Opens in new window
]
The Minister replied that 'the licence fee is not a tax. I don't see references to that anywhere in the legislation'.
Describing it as an 'important funding mechanism for RTÉ,' Mr O'Donovan said Mr Murphy seems 'to think that there's a phantom entity out there that can pay for everything'.
Mr Murphy said the licence accounted for just more than a third of funding for public service broadcasting.
He said his party's proposals included a 'radical plan' to increase funding for public service broadcasting by taxing big tech corporations.
Mr Murphy said they had a 'parasitical role' in journalism, not creating content but getting most of the advertising from it and it 'clearly makes sense to allow them to pay'.
'I'll continue to support those who refuse to pay the TV licence, and I warn you that that number is increasing,' he said, adding that the number of prosecutions was also dropping.
'You're entitled to start whatever campaign it is you want to start to undermine another public service,' Mr O'Donovan replied. 'I don't support it… and I don't think most people do either.'
He said if Mr Murphy gets an opportunity to be in government, he will 'actually see that there's more to running a public service than a megaphone'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
31 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Irish mogul Paul Coulson insists on $300m to walk away from Ardagh
Irish entrepreneur Paul Coulson has told Ardagh bondholders that its shareholders need a payment of at least $300 million (€254 million) to walk away from the debt-laden packaging giant he built through decades of acquisitions. Ardagh Group , which is based in Luxembourg and produces glass bottles and metal cans in facilities spanning Europe, America and Africa, has been at the centre of contentious restructuring negotiations about more than $10 billion of debt built up in the era of cheap money and low interest rates. After Ardagh announced in May that talks had broken down about a restructuring in which Coulson – the group's former chair who has voting control of its shares – would retain a stake, discussions have shifted to whether the Irish entrepreneur and other shareholders would hand over the whole company in exchange for a one-off payment. Coulson has insisted that Ardagh shareholders need $300 million in order to consider walking away, according to people familiar with the discussions, with other strict conditions around securing the money swiftly. READ MORE [ Paul Coulson faces last stand in battle to retain control of Ardagh Opens in new window ] While bondholders earlier offered $250 million to these shareholders, the Irish businessman has already rejected their proposal, according to the people familiar with the matter. Coulson has relayed that the group's shareholders will not accept anything less than $300 million, they added. A tough negotiator with a flair for financial engineering, Coulson's previously lucrative investment in Ardagh rose from the ashes of a troubled airline leasing business in the 1990s. After winning a multimillion payout from a legal settlement with the investment bank that advised him on a disastrous takeover deal by the aviation finance firm, Coulson ploughed the windfall into a stake in Ardagh, which was then a small Dublin-based bottling company. Through a series of debt-fuelled acquisitions, the businessman transformed Ardagh from a regional Irish bottler into one of the world's biggest producers of both glass and metal drinks containers. In the process, Coulson became a billionaire because of the value of his stake, making him one of the richest people in Ireland. Ardagh for decades has been a frequent issuer of junk bonds, serving as a bellwether of the market for riskier debt in Europe. During the height of low interest rates and quantitative easing, Ardagh's parent companies pushed the envelope in issuing risky payment-in-kind bonds that can pay bondholders interest in the form of more debt. Coulson has in the past profited from buying up Ardagh's riskier bonds at a discount during periods of market volatility, riding out jitters around the sustainability of the group's debt with his stake in the business intact. But, in recent years, Ardagh has been hit by interest rate rises, surging costs at its energy-intensive plants and a slowdown in demand at the large drinks manufacturers that are the group's main customers. While Coulson controls more than 50 per cent of Ardagh's voting rights, his economic stake is smaller. All Ardagh shareholders would receive a piece of the $300 million in accordance with the size of their stake under the proposal. Control would then pass to Ardagh's unsecured bondholders, which would also write down part of their debt. The group's riskiest payment-in-kind bonds would be fully written off in exchange for a small minority stake in the business. The unsecured debt is largely held by hedge funds, including London's Arini Capital Management and Los Angeles-based Canyon Partners, which separately filed a lawsuit against Ardagh and Coulson in March alleging that a restructuring could siphon value away from lenders. Ardagh last month filed to dismiss the claim in New York courts on the basis that it contains 'numerous fatal flaws'. Ardagh is split into several different silos and subsidiaries, with its metals packaging division listed on the New York stock exchange. Debt at this listed Ardagh Metals Packaging unit, which has 24 per cent of its shares freely traded and held by other investors, will not be affected by the proposed restructuring. Ardagh and Coulson declined to comment. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘None of us got out unscathed': Senator speaks of experience ‘living in very violent home'
Senators applauded a colleague's bravery in the Upper House of the Oireachtas on Wednesday when she spoke about witnessing domestic abuse as a child. Sinn Féin Senator Nicole Ryan described her mother as a strong woman who was a victim of abuse, the trauma of which passed 'through the generations' to herself and her sibling. Ms Ryan lived in a very violent home from the age of four to seven. 'As a child, when you're developing through that stage, it shapes how you see the world' and 'how you grow'. Her mother escaped 'but none of us got out unscathed'. READ MORE The Cork-based Senator was speaking during a debate on the Domestic Violence (Amendment) Bill to change how breaches of domestic violence orders and bail conditions are treated in the criminal justice system. [ Eight domestic violence calls go unanswered by Free Legal Advice Centres every day due to lack of resources Opens in new window ] Ms Ryan introduced an amendment to the Cross Party Group's private member's Bill, that the presence of a child when an offence is being committed 'shall be considered an aggravating factor for the purposes of sentencing'. 'The perpetrator never carries the shame, when they commit an act of violence … The shame is always given to the victim. And that shame gets passed on.' Her voice breaking, she said it shaped how she saw the world and her trust in people. 'For two decades, I lived in the shadow of the shame.' As a child she learned how to read people. 'I would know the kind of mood that he'd be in by the way that that his foot crossed the threshold of the front door. 'I would understand that laughing sometimes or playing too loud could be a trigger. Or the fact that if the house wasn't clean enough that would mean my mother would get abuse.' Ms Ryan became 'very fixated' on having 'everything perfect' and 'that will be with me forever'. The shame 'makes you hypervigilant and untrusting even of love. You see everything as danger', she said. 'Even if we were never hurt physically, but emotionally … we carry those scars, and that does need to be an aggravating factor' in sentencing, because 'I will still carry those scars with me for the rest of my life', she said. The Senator said she was grateful for the opportunity to share her story and 'to stand up for all the other young children that are out there that are living in these homes'.
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Gaza ceasefire hopes grow as Occupied Territories Bill continues to move through stages
Good morning. Hopes of a ceasefire in Gaza are tentatively growing and the story makes our front page lead this morning, even as health authorities there reported that the death toll had passed 57,000 . Sally Hayden writes from Jerusalem that Hamas was examining new ceasefire offers received from mediators Egypt and Qatar, but repeated that it wants an end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops. Gideon Saar, the Israeli foreign minister, cited 'positive signs' in the talks to end the war in Gaza and free the hostages, the New York Times reported, though prime minister Binyamin Netanyhu repeated that there would be 'no more Hamas . . . We are not going back to that.' READ MORE With US pressure for a ceasefire seemingly increasing, we will likely know more today. Keep an eye on Truth Social. And obv. In few places has Gaza roiled domestic politics as it has in Ireland, with the Government under constant pressure from Opposition and campaigners to take action against Israel. The Government has moved slowly and cautiously on the Occupied Territories Bill – though compared to most other European governments, Dublin has been moving at warp speed. The Foreign Affairs Committee continued its pre-legislative scrutiny of the Government's new Bill last night, with Senator Frances Black among others urging the inclusion of services in the scope of legislation. The committee is expected to conclude this phase next week and then issue a report – it could yet recommend that services are included, posing a significant conundrum for the Government. The possible consequences of the bill continue to worry some in Government. Their worries will be heightened by comments yesterday by an influential US senator . It's 'blatant anti-semitism,' says foreign relations committee chairman Jim Risch. * The row about third level fees rumbles on, with Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Social Democrats acting leader Cian O'Callaghan raising the issue again on Leaders' Questions, where Fianna Fáil deputy leader Jack Chambers – also the Minister for Public Expenditure, so not exactly a disinterested observer in all this – was asked out straight four times if he would say whether students would have to pay €3,000 for the next academic year, or €4,000. Four times he declined to say . Earlier, the Minister for Higher Education James Lawless, whose RTE interview on Sunday kicked the whole thing off, sought to defuse the situation – a little anyway – on Kildare FM. He'll be seeking permanent reductions in the student charge during budget negotiations, he said. But could he say for sure that fees would come down? He could not . * Souvenir hunters, maybe? A portrait of Michael D Higgins h as been removed from Belfast City Hall , apparently on the orders of the new (DUP) Mayor of Belfast Tracy Kelly. Previously President Miggledy was up beside King Charles on the wall (which he would love) but Sinn Féin noticed recently that he had been deposed. Nothing is too petty for Belfast city politics. * Mayo for Sam: as talks between the EU and the Trump administration on a trade deal head into their final phase ahead of next week's deadline, meet the European Commission's trade spokesman , Mayoman Olof Gill who spent much of his childhood on Clare Island. 'I am proud that we are holding the line for liberal values,' he says. * Poll position: Paschal Donohoe is well-placed to win another term as head honcho of the Eurogroup , the powerful group of European finance ministers, writes Jack Power. Best reads Economic outlook is 'exceptionally uncertain': inside the Government's trade forum . Finn McRedmond on the necessity for the occasional long lunch . Micheal Martin is in Japan, but Irish pubs (and Irish music) got there first: Denis Staunton reports from a trad session in Tokyo . The population of Ireland has grown by a third in 20 years, according to census reports north and south . Playbook Big Jim O'Callaghan is up for justice questions at the ungodly hour – in parliamentary terms at least – of 8.45 am this morning, followed by agriculture PQs and then the final Leaders' Questions of the week at 12 noon. Government business in the afternoon includes EU rules regarding migrations – safe countries of origin, safe third countries, and a 'recommendation on a coordinated approach to the transition out of temporary protection for displaced persons from Ukraine.' There's something similar in the Seanad. It's a quieter day at the committees today. The Defence Committee will hear from a number of witnesses – including three MEPs – about the proposed abolition of the triple lock. Safe to say the witnesses from the Irish Neutrality League, the Peace and Neutrality Alliance and the Irish Anti-War Movement will not be agitating for jumping into bed with Nato. Elsewhere the Public Accounts Committee will interrogate officials from Children's Health Ireland and the National Treatment Purchase Fund. There could be skin and hair flyin' at that one alright. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris is heading for the annual Ireland-Wales Forum in Swansea, where he will meet with the First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan. This year's Forum will see the launch of a new Ireland-Wales Shared Statement 2030. Exciting, no?
