Mr. Alan Esslemont:

First, I want to praise the BAI. When it was introduced it was very much a question of a monolithic media system in Ireland and it created an overarching regulator. It has been very successful. It has almost written a playbook on how to do this. It stood out in that it also managed to create a respect for the Irish language. Going forward, the number of staff it has, which is probably under 50, will not suffice for what Mr. Coveney referred to as the huge task of regulating audiovisual services. It needs a huge amount of reality.

Part of the problem with media is that the Government never listened to the very well-weighed requests for proper funding for the ecosystem we have here. If that happens again, it could be a car crash. The new media commission needs to be properly funded with the correct level of staff and the correct level of expertise.