Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 14 September 2022

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media

Future of Media Commission Report: Discussion

Photo of Catherine MartinCatherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The system needs to be more equitable, and it will involve a long-term plan. The technical working group is currently working on the reform of the TV licence, which is a long-term plan. The Government was of the view that to move to an Exchequer-based funding model would raise certain concerns in respect of the independence of media funding. We need to minimise the risk of actual or even perceived political interference in media independence that could arise in a system in which public service media is fully dependent on Exchequer funding, and that was our concern. The report of the commission states that there is no perfect funding model, and that all funding models are challenging, as I said. Any new or reformed funding model should retain and build on the existing revenue available. That is what the technical group is examining and it will report to me in November.

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