Mr. S?amus Dooley:

There is a local democracy scheme and funding under the commission. Sport is sufficiently important in Irish society that funding could be available for it. Mr. Hughes has mentioned the loss of a number of titles and the loss of diversity. That has affected sports coverage in a number of areas. There is also the heresy in some areas where titles have been acquired by one owner and have, therefore, merged resources, sometimes making business decisions that do not make editorial sense. There is a notion of an Offaly man having a report in a Tipperary newspaper and giving a Tipperary perspective. One reporter covering Offaly and Tipperary - I am thinking of a particular situation - might make business sense but having a local perspective and a local editor making local editorial decisions is important. I know that from my background as a newspaper editor. Sometimes the idea of merging coverage and having common reports may appear to make sense but considerations of diversity and plurality do not apply only to issues such as politics. Sometimes those considerations are even more important for sport. There is no reason why sport should not be looked upon as a suitable area for funding in the same way politics is. I would particularly like to see that in the context of the promotion of women. More and more women are interested in covering sport and there is potential in that regard.

The Deputy also asked about threats to journalism. There have been instances of physical threats to journalists and we have had a number of instances where threats have been issued to, in particular but not exclusively, photographers. There have been incidents outside the courts and outside Parliament when photographers have been physically assaulted and intimated. In addition, there is the torture - and I use that word advisedly - on social media which the tech giants have ignored. Much of that is gender based and extremely misogynistic. There is not a newsroom in the country that could not give the committee an example of anonymous trolls attacking female journalists, in particular. That is a real concern. Quite frankly, the tech giants have not been responsible in dealing with that issue.