Mr. Oisín Coghlan:

The short answer is “Yes”, of course we need other sectors of society and the media on board. I do not wish to be too optimistic about things but I believe there has been a very significant shift in the media over recent years, partly driven by the same phenomena and others which I will come back to. I agree with the Senator’s analysis in the first instance, which is nothing new and which is that the media want and often look for the back-and-forth, the cut-and-thrust and the barney in how it frames debates, whether that is between different social partners or political parties. They therefore tend, at times, to go towards environmentalists versus farmers, whether either of those stakeholders look for that.

Weirdly, the transport sector is not organised in the same way. Sometimes one gets the haulage association in, but because the environmental sector is somewhat organised and the IFA is very organised, the media bring us in but there is nobody there to represent the fact that transport emissions have been going up over decades in the way we have both highlighted today. There are some quirks in how things get covered.

The media have generally improved in recent years. RTÉ is now doing a great deal more in recent years, having been pushed back over the weather issues this summer. The Irish Independentand The Irish Timeshave dedicated correspondents and RTÉ also now has a dedicated correspondent.

The issue for the media, as it is more generally for them, will be how good journalism is funded into the future. For those under 40 years of age who never buy a newspaper or pay for a TV licence, how do we fund good journalism and ensure there is not so much misinformation online? It may be as much about the regulation of online media and putting Facebook as a publisher as it is about ensuring RTÉ does its fair share of public sector broadcasting.