Mr. Conor Goodman:

As regards funding, the Deputy referred to advertising falling off a cliff during the Covid pandemic because all commerce basically stopped. One of the things that helped to sustain us during that time was public service advertising and announcements. Departments placing public service announcements in local or national newspapers is one method of funding. That goes for local and national newspapers. It also conveys important public messages. The same can be extended to local and national radio stations. That is one method.

There are a number of funds available. Google provides funding through its Google News initiatives, for example. The Irish Timeshas accessed that several times. We have accessed funding through the Department of Foreign Affairs from the Simon Cumbers media fund. There was a once-off global diaspora fund as well. In those cases, the funding is usually contingent on the applicant submitting a proposal to do a particular story, travel to a particular location or complete a project. Although the funder in all those cases tries to set up a clean hands funding operation between the funder and the fundee, with a committee making the decision, it does mean the funding is ultimately subject to certain terms and, directly or indirectly, the funder is deciding how the media should behave. I would counsel against too much of that type of funding model. I am more in favour of direct funding through a media fund, ideally contributed to by technology firms, along the lines of the RTÉ licence fee. RTÉ is not told to do certain things with that money.

Without funding, our entire industry would be in difficulty. There was reference to the spiralling newsprint costs and how crippling they have been.We are entering generally difficult waters. I had a disturbing experience last weekend when, on Sunday morning while driving into town, I stopped at a Spar shop on Baggot Street and asked where the newspapers were located. I was told the shop does not stock newspapers any more and that I would have to go to Tesco across the road. All we need is for Tesco to pull out next. The retail model is in danger of breaking down. That is something that could take us all by surprise. One would move into home delivery and the subscription model. To be straight up with the committee, our subscriptions, which we consider our future, bring in less than 20% of our revenue. We want to move that to 25% in five years but that will be a significant struggle and involve really leveraging that model. Digital subscription is a tough business to be in. It is ever more competitive. Publishers across Europe are getting more aggressive. Digital subscriptions are part of the answer, but only part.