Mr. Frank Mulrennan:

In answer to his question, we have huge regard for local radio. I refer, for example, to LMFM, which broadcasts in the area from which Deputy Munster and Senator Cassells operate, MidWest Radio, which broadcasts in Deputy Dillon's area, and South East Radio. Local radio has served this country very well. We saw Mr. John Purcell here before the committee a month ago. We are at the cutting edge of the private sector in local newspapers. We have not benefited from any of the State funding which came through the sound and vision fund for local radio. Budgets are tight. As to where budgets come from, I suggest that now there is a Minister for the media and a Department has been set up, local newspapers be provided with access to funding from the licence fee, the revenue that is coming into the Department. Without it, we are simply not going to be there for the long term.

We have a very defined business model to cater for the move from print to digital. For the month of September, local newspapers had more than 8 million unique visitors and 26 million page impressions. Our challenge is not traffic, which is tremendous, it is monetisation and the fact that Google and Facebook are effectively piggybacking on our content. Our challenge, due to the commercial reality of a 22% fall in income in the months from April to September, is to resource our newsrooms – the committee discussed that issue with Mr. Séamus Dooley a month ago – and also to fund a sustainable, digital strategy. We are grateful for what the State gave the taxpayer via the employment schemes. We no longer qualify for them, as to do so a company's revenue needs to be down by more than 30%. The real challenge is that we are facing such a quandary, in particular in the coming months. It will be quarter 1, into April, before the vaccine takes effect. We are looking for immediate funding. We welcome the Future of Media Commission, but that is more for the medium to long term.

Senator Byrne asked about local newspapers that are at risk of going out of business. Mr. Séamus Dooley instanced the loss of the Roscommon titles. He mentioned the Roscommon Championnewspaper. In terms of newspapers in his own area in County Wexford, four good titles have been lost. Those of us who are still in publishing are good at our job, but we do want a level playing field. Hence, the request for €2.5 million in funding.