Mr. Rory Coveney:

I will try to summarise my prepared submission, which would take much longer than three minutes to read out in full. Members will have received copies of it in advance.

We are pleased to attend this meeting to discuss the important issue of the sustainability of broadcasting and media in Ireland. Published last summer, the Future of Media Commission report made far-reaching recommendations, which the Government has largely accepted, on a range of topics relating to the future of our sector. As Ms Craig noted, the Government has published a plan to begin implementing many of those recommendations. Indeed, in the most recent budget, it began funding some of the key recommendations, which reinforced the confidence of all of us in the report.

A couple of structural issues in the report are especially pertinent to today's discussion, the first of which relates to RTÉ's remit. Fundamentally, our remit is not changing. While there are some adjustments to be made and there are definitional questions relating to the Internet and so on, the scope of what we are being asked to do by the Government and by public policy remains the same. This is important because it has implications for the financial and human resources required to deliver on our obligations. Nor is the dual funding model changing. These issues were all considered exhaustively in the context of the deliberations of the commission. Again, that is important because it determines how RTÉ must behave and impacts on the market itself. RTÉ is obliged by statute, as most members of the committee will know, to exploit commercial opportunities as they arise in pursuit of our public service objects, and that is not changing.

In Ireland, as elsewhere, we are all part of a fast-changing commercial media market. The reality facing RTÉ, with increasing media fragmentation, digital disruption and global competition, is that we must continue to develop and grow our advertising-based income, particularly digital advertising, while also developing new non-advertising-based commercial opportunities. Our submission details some of these new areas and we will be happy to discuss them during the session. Regulation will also be critical, as envisaged in the Future of Media Commission report, in rebalancing the relationship between media and big tech. We look forward to discussing the practical implications of some of that today.

In regard to public funding, the Future of Media Commission report is clear on the need for substantial reform of the public funding system that underpins public service media and much beyond that in Ireland today. While the Government did not accept the prescription of the commission, it did and does accept the diagnosis that the current system is not working. As for RTÉ's future business model, we need to be clear that public funding represents more than 50% of the hybrid funding model that underpins everything we are asked to do. The current licence fee system loses in excess of €65 million a year and is continuing to get worse as technology evolves. There is not a sustainable future for RTÉ, and for many other of our key partners that rely on our capacity to invest, without a reformed public funding model.

There is much to consider beyond these questions regarding the future of Irish media. From RTÉ's perspective, the Internet offers us incredible opportunities to enhance what we do, to allow us to be more responsive to audiences and to better deliver on our obligations. Central to our strategy in the coming years is building the capacity to combine the power of broadcasting, streaming and digital publishing to deliver an integrated and increasingly personalised public service for all our audiences throughout the day. RTÉ's best response to the obvious threats of misinformation and disinformation is in ensuring we can continue to provide a comprehensive news and current affairs service that is fair and accurate and remains highly trusted by the public.

Moreover, given the extraordinary power and resources of global media entities, we must partner with others to deliver mutual benefits and impact with audiences. We already do much of this today. We work with many partners, some of them represented at this meeting, to deliver premium Irish drama, for example. We are working with our colleagues in TG4 and Virgin to ensure key sporting events remain accessible, all largely free to air, to audiences in Ireland. Through our partnerships with all sorts of events and projects, we support Irish culture, talent, creativity and creative expression of all kinds. Resources allowing, there is much more we can do in this area and others to offer audiences the journalism, programming and services they deserve. There is much to be discussed today and we look forward to participating in that.