Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and all of her officials. I join her in thanking all of the members of the Future of Media Commission who did such excellent work and who have been so engaging during the Covid pandemic and at other times in holding webinars and encouraging debate. They have been extremely helpful in formulating discourse on this very important topic.

With regard to the technical group the Minister has established, the basic principles of providing news have not changed substantially in hundreds of years. I refer to the work reporters do in ascertaining basic information, reporting on it and then conveying it to the public. What has changed is how we access that news not just in terms of broadcast media, but also print media. What all of the media organisations are struggling with is the revenue streams that underpin that or the lack thereof. Notwithstanding the work that is going on and which the technical group is doing, is the Minister worried about the future of media, both broadcast and print media - and national and regional newspaper editors are going to be in the audiovisual room tomorrow, which is something I will address in a moment - as a viable commercial enterprise? I ask her that in the context of the Government's decision that directly intervening, abolishing the TV licence fee and providing direct Exchequer funding might result in a perception of political interference in the media sector, whether such interference is real or not. There is a fear that, notwithstanding any reform of the TV licence fee, it will not meet the funding requirements of RTÉ. Is the Minister worried that the commercial viability of RTÉ is under threat?