Mr. Declan Gibbons:

I thank the Acting Chair and committee for affording an opportunity to the Community Radio of Forum of Ireland, CRAOL, to address the committee. We thought we would be looking backwards at Covid and the impact of it, but, unfortunately, it looks like it is going to be with us for some time to come. Challenges remain and we look forward to being part of the solution to those challenges as well.

CRAOL, which is also called the community radio forum of Ireland, is the network of the Irish community radio sector. We have more than 2,000 community radio volunteers, broadcasting weekly to almost 300,000 people from 21 fully licensed stations and almost 15 aspirant stations. Our mission is to develop the community radio movement and to realise its potential to make a difference to the communities that its members are part of, delivering a social benefit to these communities.

Early in the pandemic, in April last year, we carried out a survey to determine the direct impact that Covid-19 was having on stations. The purpose was to capture a snapshot of the situation across the 21 full-time, fully licensed member stations. Some 17 stations responded; 16 of those were still broadcasting at the time of survey and one had reportedly ceased operations temporarily due to Covid. Two stations reported increasing their hours, one of which was to facilitate leaving certificate subjects to be aired, and the remaining stations stated that they had to reduce their hours of broadcasting.

Broadcasting hours varied across individual stations, ranging from 40 hours per week to the full 168 per week, with all stations reporting changes to programming and schedules. The reasons for these changes were a direct result of governmental restrictions regarding social distancing, cocooning, working from home and non-essential travel. In fairness to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, it was quite understanding and has been quite flexible in that regard. Changes included a reduction in the production of programmes, shifting to remote programming, ceasing live programmes, broadcasting archived programmes and content changes, such as more health related topics, programmes for elderly and broadcasting religious services. Three stations were working completely remotely, and to facilitate remote working, a variety of software and hardware was being used. Stations reported that boards and management committees had implemented measures that included facilitating remote working, exercising social distancing in the workplace, promotion of infection control, limiting the number of staff and volunteers at the station at any given time and maintaining communication with staff and volunteers through apps like Zoom and Google Hangouts.

We commissioned a follow-up survey in November of this year. Many issues remain for the stations. Many of the volunteers who populate stations were older or in high-risk categories and many stopped coming to the stations, resulting in the loss of good people and resources. Pre-Covid community stations were lively social hubs that gathered many volunteers and contributors daily in their offices and the studios, and this is now gone as the ongoing Covid is heavily limiting the presence of members on the premises. Only some volunteers want to record their programmes from home or had the skills and means to do so, and stations had to adapt to a whole new system very quickly. This brought to light the inadequacy of facilities as some stations that operate from very small spaces and this led to volunteer displacement. Volunteers who are dependent on public transport are wary of coming to the station, and high turnover of volunteers and staff during the pandemic has brought with it a loss of experience.

On the income side of things, stations are reliant on delivering training and local communities and businesses to support the running costs. During Covid, many small businesses were closed and it was much more difficult to raise finance. Measures and health and safety are limiting the offerings for training, summer camps, and work placements for students, etc. In addition, the possibility of running any kind of fundraiser was severely restricted, and usually community fundraisers are ongoing challenges for the stations.