Speech by Minister Catherine Martin on the publication of the report of the Future of Media Commission

Tá lúcháir orm foilsiú Thuarascáil an Choimisiúin um Thodhchaí na Meán a fheiceáil inniu. Déanfaidh an tuarascáil seo eolas do bheartas na meán don chéad deich mbliana eile agus ina dhiaidh sin.

I would like to join with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste in taking this opportunity to thank Professor Brian MacCraith and the Commission Members for their work in bringing this comprehensive Report to fruition.

A diverse, vibrant and independent media sector is essential for our democracy, our wider society, and our cultural development.

Government recognises this needs to be funded through a reformed licence fee and a Technical Working Group led by my department will report back to Government in November on the practical steps that need to be taken. An improved funding model will benefit the entire media sector both for public service broadcasters and for other providers of public service content.

We agreed that there should be interim funding for RTE, and I’ll be discussing that funding in the context of the forthcoming budgetary and estimates process.

I was very pleased to note the Commission recommendation that the Broadcasting Fund be replaced by a much broader Media Fund. The new Media Fund with 6 new schemes will be open to print and online as well as broadcast media and the need for this Media Fund has also been agreed but again will be discussed in the context of the Budgetary process.

I will now ask the BAI to commence work on designing the new Fund which includes schemes for news reporting, community media, digital transformation and access and training.

I anticipate that the priority in the immediate term will be the local democracy and courts reporting schemes. These are vital functions that underpin our democracy and are at the very heart of what public service content means. I expect that these first two schemes will be available to the sector in 2023.

In the coming weeks, the Public Appointments Service will advertise Commissioner posts for the new regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, that I am establishing under the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill.

Among the posts advertised will be a Media Development Commissioner who will lead on the development and roll out of these schemes, ensuring that there is the institutional capacity to deliver for the sector.

I am strongly supportive of the promotion of gender balance, diversity and inclusion in our media services and agree with the Commission that Coimisiún na Meán should play a bigger role in the creation and enforcement of EDI standards across the industry. A significant amount of data collection and research analysis is expected to underpin this work at the Coimisiún which will provide a strong foundation for building greater access, equality and inclusion. ‘You have to see it to be it’ was a common refrain in the Commission’s online debates and one I entirely agree with.

The Commission’s recommendation for a National Counter Disinformation Strategy to explore how to combat the growing problem of disinformation, is a really innovative and interesting approach and my department will lead on its development in the coming months.

This will complement work being done at European level, for example, through the Digital Services Act, and the Strategy will be developed in consultation with the Irish Hub of EDMO, (the European Digital Media Observatory), industry stakeholders, news organisations, civil society groups and Irish fact-checkers and disinformation researchers.

As the Minister with responsibility for the Irish language I fully appreciate the important role that the media sector has to play in the continued promotion and development of our Irish language. I demonstrated this commitment by providing TG4 with its biggest ever annual increase in funding of €4.2in 2022 when it was allocated €44.9m.

I very much welcome the recommendation that Coimisiún na Meán should complete a comprehensive Review of Irish language provision to clarify what roles TG4, RTÉ, Raidió na Gaeltachta and other content providers could play in maximising the provision of Irish language content.

Mar fhocal scoir, gabhaim buíochas arís leis an Ollamh Brian MacCraith agus le comhaltaí eile an Choimisiúin as a dtuarascáil chuimsitheach a thugann ábhar machnaimh dúinn agus a mbeidh ról lárnach aici i múnlú meán agus beartas meán na hÉireann sna blianta atá romhainn.