An increase of €3 in the television licence fee, bringing it to €155 from April 1st next, has been sanctioned by the Minister for Communications, Mr Dempsey, after he received a broadly positive consultants' report about the performance of RTÉ.
While the increase permitted is below the November rate of inflation (2.9 per cent), RTÉ's director general, Mr Cathal Goan, yesterday warmly welcomed the decision. He said it would give RTÉ increased "financial security".
There was little surprise about the announcement. Mr Dempsey has spoken several times about his strong support for RTÉ and public service broadcasting.
The station received a boost recently when a report for Mr Dempsey's Department cleared the station of abusing its dominant position in the television advertising market. The report was commissioned following complaints by RTÉ's chief rival, TV3.
The licence fee decision is likely to strengthen the station's financial position for the year ahead. RTÉ is expecting to report a strong surplus this year of between €3 and €6 million.
The licence fee decision is less politically charged now than it once was. Under a system set up by Mr Dempsey's predecessor, Mr Dermot Ahern, independent consultants now assess what progress RTÉ has made across a range of areas, including programming and financial management.
The consultants, PricewaterhouseCoopers, then submit a report to the Minister who makes a decision on the fee.
Mr Dempsey did not give details yesterday on how he had reached his decision to increase the licence, but he noted that RTÉ had performed strongly in programming, financial management and commercial areas.
The consultants' report said however there was room for improvement in relation to management and in particular to corporate planning. These issues would begin to be addressed early in the new year, said Mr Dempsey.
Mr Goan said this was the third year in succession the State had recognised the important contribution of RTÉ to Irish society.
Mr Dempsey said he was particularly pleased PricewaterhouseCoopers found that RTÉ strengthened its programming output and met its key financial targets.