Mr. Jack Byrne:

I started to type my statement this morning and I timed it. It was 12 minutes long so I decided to hone it some more. The Chair will be pleased to know that I expect to come in under schedule.

The core mission of community media is to generate a social benefit with communities, not for communities but with them. For clarification, this shows a clear difference between community media and commercial media. The work we envisage for media has no real commercial value. Its importance lies in community ownership and control of content around civil discourse on local issues. Our ethos is based on the right to communicate using all available media and these tools include new digital platforms, which in light of the Future of Media Commission report, we must address. We are now exploring a future of diverse platform-neutral analogue and digital production and dissemination to build multimedia community-media hubs, combining physical and virtual centres. We are looking ultimately to the benefits of a growing network of such hubs as envisaged by the Future of Media Commission report. These community-media hubs - each building around an existing community radio or community television channel - will expand existing facilities where innovative ideas meet community development and digital technologies to generate creative solutions at grassroots level. However, and there is always a however, such exploration is hampered by a lack of resources. The potential for such media use is impeded when community media activists spend far too much time chasing sustainability funding. The Future of Media Commission report notes the current precarious funding available to community media and offers a general approach that would suit our community media needs. The commission envisaged targeted support for public service content providers. As limited funds are available, whatever the funding model we finally achieve, funds will be limited. A targeted approach makes sense and we propose that selected content for funding should be the benchmark. Community media already benefit from targeted State support, mainly through Pobal. This approach should be enhanced. This community development approach is a unique cost-effective form of media.

The basic business model was never sufficient to realise its enormous potential and it is now becoming even less feasible within the evolving media landscape. We need a funding and regulatory model that will acknowledge the strategic value of community media in reinforcing equality, diversity and inclusion in our communities. To give a few examples, having a standing media fund as proposed that operates on the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion would allow the funding authority to operate various schemes targeted at media sectors and meeting agreed content outputs. There is only another half-page of the opening statement to go.