The Government is moving to claim multi-million-euro returns for the State from the sale of independent radio and television stations, The Irish Times has learned.
With broadcasters licensed by the State selling for tens of millions of euro in recent years, the Minister for Communications, Mr Dermot Ahern, has asked consultants to examine how the Government could lay claim to a major portion of the value of these transactions.
Mr Ahern is arguing that the State should be entitled to a significant share of the sale value of radio and television stations because it owns the broadcast spectrum on which they operate. This is in addition to any capital gains tax on such transactions.
The Minister's spokesman said he had asked the Dutch group, Ox, to examine how the State could recoup "anything" upwards from 50 per cent of the value of broadcast companies.
Mr Ahern's intervention follows a series of major investments by groups such as UTV and Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH).
Mr Ahern's spokesman said: "There's no kickback at all to the State. We're talking about radio operators selling on their stations and the State is the one left out of the celebrations. They are using a national resource, which is finite. The Minister is anxious to explore avenues where the Exchequer does not lose out."
In the most recent of its deals, SRH paid €30 million for the Dublin station FM104, netting windfall profits for the businessmen Mr Ulick McEvaddy, Mr Jim Aiken, Mr Pearse Farrell, Mr John O'Callaghan, Mr Greg Sparks and Mr Maurice Cassidy.
UTV has paid €14 million for Dublin's Lite FM and spent €36 million on the Cork group County Media. Granada bought into TV3 for €48 million in 2000.