Ireland

The RTE needs money from the public each year to run. But

• Direct funding by the government gives the government too much influence over content.
• Funding from the licence fee is not secure because many people don't want to pay, since they discovered all the money-laundering and theft going on in RTE.
• Advertising does not make the RTE enough money.

The funding model should also give the RTE an incentive to behave better in the future. It must be a source that can shrink in proportion to RTE's continuing misbehaviour.

The best way is to add a an extra charge to everyone's annual income tax bill. It could be 50€ per taxpayer, to replace the existing 160€ per household. People who don't pay tax don't pay the charge. So this is more progressive than the TV licence fee was.

On the tax declaration form, there is a multiple choice. The taxpayer can choose whether his fee should go to the RTE or somewhere else more deserving. If he ticks several boxes, the fee will be split between several beneficiaries. The choices could be, for example

1. RTE
2. Medicins sans frontieres
3. Vincent de Paul
4. A subsidy for theatre companies
5. Funding for artists and musicians
6. A fund for free open-source software developers

For the last two, figuring out a way to fairly distribute the money could be tricky, but still worthwhile.

There will also be an option to increase the payment to the chosen cause, to 100€ or 200€.