Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 18 January 2023

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media

Future of the Media Sector: Discussion

Photo of Micheál CarrigyMicheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes, which comes under the remit of this Oireachtas committee. I just wanted to make that point.

I wish to make a few points about Virgin. Mr. Farrell mentioned six channels. Is six channels too many to be putting out?

As for Screen Ireland, the Cathaoirleach mentioned certain areas of the country. It was brought to my attention that if a company looking to make a production within this country produces it in Roscommon, it is entitled to 10% or, I think, up to €200,000 in funding, but if it produces it in Longford, where I come from, it does not get that. There needs to be balance. The Chair mentioned balance in Limerick and funding not being available in a neighbouring county. Screen Ireland might expand on that.

As for the technical working group, and as the Chair stated, the can has been kicked down the road again with regard to the licence fee. I believe there should be a fee on every single household because every household consumes content. As I said, it should be available to all organisations. I know that the organisations represented today have fed into the Future of Media Commission. Have they got an opportunity to feed into the working group? To ask maybe a broader question, who is the technical working group? I have not seen the list of whom it consists of to know who is actually making these decisions. Have all the organisations, including RTÉ and Virgin, got a chance to feed into the technical working group?

To follow up on what Senator Cassells said, I am from a very strong sporting background. The way forward is for both RTÉ and Virgin to come together, going after all these competitions and making sure we have them on our televisions. There was a solution in, I think, Virgin's submission, which stated that in France the three broadcasters came together and created a shared platform. Is that the way to go? Sorry - that was a heap of questions.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.