BOB QUINN,
Sir, - For the past three years I have refused to pay my TV licence fee. In 1999 I informed the responsible Minister, Síle de Valera, of my intention and gave reasons in writing, among which were:
1. For the regular viewer and listener RTÉ is a commercially-driven organisation. The evidence is the dumbing down to which we are all witness.
2. The broadcaster had ignored the request of several RTÉ Authority members - especially myself over four years - to modify its policy of treating small children as avaricious consumers.
Today on the radio news I heard an interviewer describe a Mr Coughlan, spokesman for the Primary School Principals Association, as "po-faced". The reason? Mr Coughlan and his colleagues wanted to curtail the commercial manipulation of their young pupils by supermarkets such as Tesco.
The present corporate takeover of the US education system - which we are quietly aping - is making American parents very angry. RTÉ is either unaware of this phenomenon, or is ignoring it. Since when has it been "po-faced" to try to protect children from abuse, especially through multinational exploitation? This RTÉ News interview finally convinced me that the commercial ethos is so interiorised by RTÉ and its staff that I am quite justified in rejecting RTÉ's need for any licence fee.
I await the Minister's knock on my door. - Yours, etc.,
BOB QUINN,
Béal an Daingin,
Co na Gaillimhe.