Ms Triona Quill:

I thank the Deputy. In regard to the administrative financial sanctions, we looked at what was in place in regard to other regulators, such as the Central Bank, the Data Protection Commission and so on. Therefore, the upper limits put in place of €20 million or 10% of relevant turnover drew from the experience of other regulators. I emphasise that they are upper limits, so the actual financial sanction the media commission might consider would need to be proportionate to the nature of the contravention of codes that are in place. They have to be large upper limits given the scale of some of the online platforms, but nevertheless it does not mean that every financial sanction would be anywhere near that amount. It depends on the nature of the contravention, the size of the service and so on. It is important there is no reward for contravening codes, so it is important to have robust sanctions in place, but the media commission would need to take a proportionate approach in that regard. Obviously, they are all subject to court oversight also.

In regard to the content levy, it would not be normal to put a commencement date within the legislation. We have provided for the principle of a content levy to be included in the legislation, but we are very conscious a content levy needs to be robust and proportionate. What is provided for is that the media commission will carry out further research, and it is in the best position to do so, and draw up proposals which the Minister would then commence. We believe that is the best way to ensure there is a robust, proportionate and effective approach to a content levy in Ireland. The media commission will have the capacity to reassess the rate as time progresses. For example, we expect the level of revenue from on-demand services will grow over time, so some reassessment may be required.

In regard to the point on the independent production sector, the Deputy is correct that the current level of €40 million that RTÉ must provide towards independent production is set out in the Broadcasting Act 2009. This is an area the Future of Media Commission is looking at in terms of the funding of media services in Ireland. On that particular aspect, we would await the findings and recommendations of the Future of Media Commission to see what is recommended in that regard.