QuoteThat statement is so wrong and hyperbolic I hardly know where to start with it.
It's scandalous bordering on criminal, to force ordinary people to pay the license fee ( special tax ) for Rte in this day and age !
That statement is so wrong and hyperbolic I hardly know where to start with it.
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
The man deserves a better answer than that.Originally Posted by Eminence Grise
Go Coillte Mach rachad / ní stopfaidh me choíche /
Go seasfaidh mé síos / i lár Chondae Mhaigh Eo.
If you'd seen his comments on the BBC in the Current Affairs forum, you wouldn't think that.
Could you please direct me to the post with the relevant comments. Ta.
Go Coillte Mach rachad / ní stopfaidh me choíche /
Go seasfaidh mé síos / i lár Chondae Mhaigh Eo.
Why should people be forced to pay for something that they may not even use ~ Especially when it is a sub-standard organisation, with way over-inflated salaries !
I don't see much demand for the likes of Tubridy or any of the others ~ ~ Something that we have always been told, justifies the way over-inflated salaries that Rte pay ? !
Frankly, the post doesn't, but if you insist...
- scandalous – matter of opinion, with a colloquial use of scandal (‘a circumstance or action that offends propriety or established moral conceptions or disgraces those associated with it’) that is hyperbolic.
- bordering on criminal – no, in fact the law says it is obligatory to possess a TV licence, unless you qualify for stated exemptions.
- to force – require, in reality. Compulsion is reserved for those who evade their responsibility, spongers as the ads used to call them once upon a time. If you want to legally avoid paying, you can stream from a computer with a large monitor or project to a white screen or wall and nobody can force you to pay a licence because one is not required in those circumstances.
- ordinary people – well, everybody. But with exemptions for those (i) over 70; (ii) between 66 and 70 not in receipt of social welfare, subject to a means test; (iii) anybody who qualifies for the Households Benefits Package; (iv) those under 70 who qualify for certain social welfare (e.g. disability, invalidity, blind pension, carer's allowance) and, of course; (v) anybody who doesn’t own a TV. That’s an awful lot of ordinary people.
- license fee ( special tax ) – it’s not a tax, it’s a licence to possess a television. The same as a driver's licence or a dog licence aren't taxes. If it were a tax, it would be collected by the Revenue Commissioners. In which case, there wouldn’t be upwards of one in five households evading it.
- for Rte – 86% of the licence fee goes to RTE. An Post gets 7% for doing a bad job collecting the revenue, and 7% goes into Coimisiún na Meán’s Sound and Vision fund, which provides grants to the independent and commercial film, TV and radio sectors. From CnaM’s press releases (highlights, not full details) in the last four rounds of funding, grants were made to: Virgin Media Television, TG4, KCLR 96FM, Newstalk, Flirt FM, Oireachtas TV, Independent Broadcasters of Ireland, Dublin City FM, Radio Kerry, Gambit Pictures for RTÉ One, Curious North for TG4, Hot Press and Independent Broadcasters of Ireland (IBI), Raidió na Life, Dublin Community Television and Deadpan Pictures for Virgin Media Television.
- in this day and age – on this, I have to agree. A more modern way of funding public service broadcasting, commercial broadcasters and production companies is needed.
You can legally avoid paying if you want, as I laid out. Substandard? It could be less so if spongers paid their fair share. Over-inflated salaries? Not for the researchers, runners, production crews, orchestra members, admin staff ... Yes, there are some poeple in RTE who are very lucky to earn what they do, and lucky to have risen as high as they have - but that's something you'll see in every walk of life from shift leaders in burger joints to PLC boards of directors.
Last edited by Eminence Grise; 09/03/2025 at 11:59 AM.
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
We are in a different world as to when Rte was established ~ ~ There is no need for such an all-encompassing organisation as Rte in this day and age.
Independent broadcasters could do a better and certainly much cheaper job that Rte in the different fields of broadcasting.
See here with nonsense about "Defund the BBC" and a small number of licence cancellations being indicative of a complete loss in public faith in their content for example.
That is only the official notifications of cancellations ~ ~ The real numbers of people not paying the BBC license fee is growing all the time and growing by a lot in comparison to, 10 years / 20 years ago !
It's fair to state that in terms of public service broadcasting, TG4 arguably produces higher quality content with a fraction of the budget, but when it comes to the elements that are highly effective, such as news and current affairs, and Lyric FM, it's hard to see how RTE could successfully provide those services without a license fee.
Look what I started.... xD
I don't have a particular position on the licence fee, especially as I live outside the country, but to their credit I thought the RTE coverage of the athletics was excellent today. Not sure a private operator would be able to give it that level of coverage without putting it behind a paywall.
Wilde’s line about some people knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing, comes to mind here.
I don't think that Oscar Wilde was ever made aware of how Rte to could go through money !
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