Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and all of the witnesses. I wanted the committee to invite Dublin Digital Radio alongside CRAOL, to give a representation of what the media landscape looks like in Ireland between those regulated by the BAI and Dublin Digital Radio. I congratulate Dublin Digital Radio on the award from Mixcloud.

With regard to community media generally, whether or not it is under the BAI umbrella, the model of being a volunteer run and democratically run is important. There is also the issue of journalism graduates. Giving people experience in media, including working class people, cannot be underappreciated. There is a huge amount of knowledge sharing in the community sector between Near FM, CRAOL and community television stations. I want to reference this. I hope we can bring the community television people before the committee for future discussions. Has Dublin Digital Radio considered the BAI licence process? What regulations does it face outside of this system?

The contributions from Dr. Wheatley have been valuable. I will be reflecting on them again when I read the transcript, particularly with regard to paywall content. With regard to EU copyright on remuneration for local media radio stations and press, when social media companies use content and when it is published online, do the witnesses fear social media companies stating they will not reimburse or remunerate for this content? The knock-on effect would be that community and social media accounts would not have access to verified news.

I thank Mr. Dooley for his contribution on public moneys being denied to companies or firms where redundancies have been made, bonuses are given or trade union membership is blocked. Are there particular funding streams to which we should pay attention now and in future when the BAI or the media commission comes before us?

The value of having the community sector before the committee is that we often use the words "community" and "local" interchangeably when we speak about commercial radio stations. Commercial local radio stations are not identified as community stations. Community media suffers as a result of the fact we use these words interchangeably when community media serves an important purpose in the media landscape.