Mr. Peter Feeney:

One of the ways in which the Government can help journalism is to ensure that journalists are well-trained and there is not a financial burden on the training. One of the issues I would be conscious of is that nowadays most journalists in Ireland tend to be university graduates and they tend to be overwhelming middle-class. The media should reflect the whole of society and that should mean that people who have skills and something to say who have not had the advantages of a good secondary education or good third level education should not be excluded from the media. I would like to see schemes put in place of apprenticeships, attachments or secondments to encourage people who have not come through the formal structures of studying media in Dublin City University, University of Limerick or wherever to be able to get in to journalism. None of us would disagree that there is no particular correlation between people's ability and their formal qualifications. It is where you are born and what changes you that contributes so much to where you end up. You have got to accept a society where you recognise that not all people start off with equal opportunities and put in place measures which help them. Bursaries, apprenticeship schemes, etc., are one way of dealing with that.

This is also relevant in Ireland for the sons and daughters of immigrants. We still have an overwhelmingly white Irish media. If you walk down Kildare Street, you will see that we are now living in a different society. We are living in a society with many people of African origin and many people of Asian origin. They are not reflected in the Irish media. There is an onus on the media and the Government to try to ensure that media reflects what Ireland is like today. Any measures that will do that would be very welcome.