Ms Triona Quill:

I thank the Chair and members of the committee for the invitation to participate in this meeting. The online safety and media regulation Bill is important legislation and I hope today’s exchange will be of assistance to the committee in its scrutiny of the Bill.

The primary purpose of the Bill is to transpose the revised audiovisual media services directive and to establish a new regulator, a multi-person media commission, which will include an online safety commissioner. The general scheme of the Bill was drafted following a public consultation that concluded in April 2019 and a subsequent period of in-depth legal and policy analysis. This work is reflected in the regulatory impact analysis that has been supplied to the committee which extends to more than 500 pages. In addition, there has been extensive and ongoing stakeholder engagement.

In January 2020, the general scheme was approved by Government. However, the unusual circumstances of 2020, including the general election, the Government formation period, a reorganisation of ministerial responsibilities and the subsequent transfer of the broadcasting and media policy brief to the new Department, together with the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, has delayed the progress of the Bill. On 8 December 2020, the Government added further heads to the general scheme regarding the funding of the regulator, the regulation of audiovisual media services, the upper limit for financial sanctions and other matters.

In order to ensure the swift progress of the Bill, Government decided that the detailed drafting of the Bill by the Office of the Attorney General and pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme by the committee, would take place concurrently. Detailed drafting of the Bill is progressing well. The Department also welcomes the progress made by the committee on pre-legislative scrutiny and the commencement of oral hearings.

As mentioned, one of the main purposes of the Bill is to transpose the revised audiovisual media services directive. In short, the directive sets down the minimum rules and requirements member states must ensure are complied with by services established within their territory. This includes: the regulation of editorially controlled audiovisual services, namely, broadcasting and video on demand, which are dealt with in Parts 5 and 6 of the general scheme; the regulation of video sharing platform services which are being regulated for online safety purposes for the first time, together with a broader regulatory framework in order to give practical effect to those provisions, as set out in Part 4 of the general scheme; and heads providing for the establishment of a new regulator, a multi-person media commission, in order to oversee the compliance of services with these regulations as set out in Parts 2 and 3 of the general scheme.

Under the directive, where services are established in Ireland, the Irish regulator will oversee them for the whole of Europe. The revised directive was formally published in December 2018 with a transposition deadline of 19 September 2020. As the Bill is yet to be enacted, this deadline has been missed.

In light of this, on 20 November 2020, the European Commission initiated infringement proceedings against Ireland along with 22 other member states. While the Minister has informed the Commission of certain extenuating circumstances, it remains likely that the infringement proceedings process will continue. This should serve to underline the importance of urgently progressing the Bill toward enactment.

The media landscape is changing rapidly. Further legislation will be required in the not too distant future to take on board the recommendations of the Future of Media Commission, further reform of the Broadcasting Act 2009 and additional EU regulation of digital services. The enactment of this Bill will enable the establishment of the new regulator and the transposition of the directive as vital building blocks for those further reforms.

I reiterate my hope that today’s meeting will assist in the committee’s consideration of the general scheme of the Bill. I look forward to answering members' questions.