Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I agree with Deputy Dooley. We can work on at least two assumptions. We know the difficulty with regard to the various roles involved, in that broadcasters must be tough on politicians sometimes and the witnesses can rest assured most politicians here do not bear a grudge.

Ms Forbes can also accept the assumption set out in her opening statement that there is real conviction here that public service media is worth sustaining and enhancing although it is not without criticism. We must also focus on the issue of public value for money. We are not so much judging editorial content because were to start doing that we would get into trouble but we do have to ensure there are systems in place to enable quality, impartial and honest broadcasting. As luck would have it, when it comes to the issue of funding the Government has passed the ball to this committee, which I accept is not necessarily a bad pass but I hope it is not a hospital pass. There is a crisis in public service funding of broadcasting across all media because of the disruptive effects of the digital revolution that is taking place. This committee is the vehicle tasked with consideration and resolution of this matter and coming up with proposals for Government in that regard. The Minister has been very clear on that point. I believe we should take up that responsibility and that we should do so in a creative way, which I am sure all here are committed to doing.

I have a couple of specific questions for the witnesses. My first question is to Ms Forbes, although I accept she may not be able to respond to it. Ms Forbes intimated that the digital revolution is taking place in a way we did not expect in that we thought broadcasters would get a large slice of the digital media advertising pie, 80% of which has been scooped by Facebook and Google. Am I correct that Mr. Hickey's response to that was to the effect that we could scoop back somewhat in that regard by way of the imposition of a charge on Internet service providers or is there some other strategic development happening in the wider digital world through which content creators may be able to recover some more of that pie? I accept that is not an easy question to answer. I raise the issue because the solution is not one that is specifically proposed. Perhaps there is no strategy in that regard and this is an issue we might need to tease out further.

On the opt-out of advertising clause, a favourite subject of mine for many years has been the lack of regulatory control over advertising such that money accruing in that regard is being taken out of the country with no investment in content creation here. It was stated that this is enabled by the European Single Market. Aside from the changes that will come about by way of the audiovisual media services directive, is it being suggested, in terms of the wording used in the presentation, that Brexit is likely to have implications for those outside of the Single Market. God help us if Rupert Murdoch ends up being one of the losers from Brexit.

My next question is for the delegation from TG4. How much did TG4 raise in advertising revenue in 2015? My final question is to Mr. Hickey. I was very interested in the prospect of a film channel and I remain so. I take his point, however, that technology, platforms and delivery mechanisms may change but there is still an underlying issue in terms of value for public money and so on for the hundreds of millions of euro spent over many years building up an archive of Irish films, many of which I have only ever seen a minute clip of, none of which has been shown since. If a film channel is not to be introduced how might we get that content out to the Irish public bearing in mind the money spent on it down through the years?