Mr. Jeremy Godfrey:

Is mise cathaoirleach Choimisiún na Meán. Tá mise agus mo chomhghleacaithe an-sásta bualadh leis an gcoiste inniu. I thank the committee for the invitation to discuss Coimisiún na Meán's work programme. I start by paying tribute to the contribution members of the committee made to the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, the OSMR Act, which laid the ground for establishing Coimisiún na Meán and which conferred many new functions on us. The Chair has introduced all our colleagues. Each of us leads different areas of activity for Coimisiún na Meán, but we act as a collective leadership and decision-making body.

We were established in March this year and our overall mission is to ensure a thriving, diverse and safe online and media landscape. In support of this objective, our first work programme was published in June. I will provide a brief update on the key activities undertaken since establishment. A more detailed overview is set out in the accompanying briefing note.

Our primary objective in the area of online safety is to reduce the risk of harmful and illegal online content and to improve the way online service providers deal with it. As members are aware, we have responsibility for regulating the many large online platforms and search engines that have established their European headquarters in Ireland.

I will briefly talk about the EU’s Digital Services Act, DSA, and the functions in the OSMR Act, which are our two main tools. The Digital Services Act is an EU regulation that creates a harmonised set of rules with the aim of ensuring a safe, predictable and trusted online environment. These rules include requirements about how platforms handle complaints about harmful and illegal content and requirements for a high level of protection for children. In addition, very large online platforms and search engines must also address the risk of a wider variety of harms and must have mitigation measures to address them. Coimisiún na Meán has been designated as Ireland’s digital services co-ordinator and we will be responsible for enforcement of nearly all of these rules in respect of platforms based in Ireland. The Commission also has a role in the risk assessment and mitigations I mentioned. We have already started significant preparatory work in relation to these new responsibilities.

On the OSMR Act, we will use the powers set out in the Act to supplement the DSA rules by creating an online safety code that imposes additional and more detailed obligations on video-sharing platforms. In July, we published a call for inputs and have received just over 50 responses from industry, civil society and academia. We plan to consult on a draft online safety code later this autumn. We have not yet made any final decisions about the code, but it is likely the code will apply to videos and associated content and will address matters such as the protection of minors and hate speech directed against groups with protected characteristics.

During 2024, we will also develop a plan for designing an individual complaints mechanism, as required by the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act. However, in advance of this, we will establish a scheme for nominated bodies who will be able to act as super complainants. We will also establish a contact centre so we can provide advice and assistance to users who are concerned about what they see online. Ms Niamh Hodnett, our online safety commissioner, and Dr. John Evans, our digital services commissioner, will have to work very closely together in order that we effectively implement both legislative instruments available to us in the interests of protecting Irish and European citizens online.

I will now discuss broadcasting and video-on-demand. High-quality public service, commercial and community broadcasting and high-quality public service content are core components of a healthy media landscape. The regulatory work on broadcasting formerly conducted by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland is continuing within Coimisiún na Meán under our broadcasting commissioner, Ms Celene Craig. We have continued to license radio and television broadcasters to provide diversity and additionality for Irish audiences. We also continue to undertake our responsibilities in respect of our public service broadcasters, RTÉ and TG4. Public service broadcasting continues to be an important part of national life in Ireland. It provides trusted and independent journalism and other content important to life. Trusted public service broadcasting requires a trusted public service broadcaster. We very much support all the efforts to restore trust in RTÉ in which the Minister, this committee, the RTÉ board and the new director general are engaged.

Coimisiún na Meán’s brief also includes video-on-demand services. We are establishing a new scheme for determining broadcasting and video-on-demand complaints, and we will update our media service codes and rules to ensure a safe and accessible audiovisual environment.

Media development is led by our media development commissioner, Mr. Rónán Ó Domhnaill, and includes funding schemes to support the development of content for Irish audiences that reflects and shapes Irish society. We continue to operate the sound and vision scheme that supports the production of culturally valuable broadcast content. We have also commenced a review of Irish language content across the media. We continue to support media literacy activities and we expect to conclude a gender, equality, diversity and inclusion strategy for the media sector by the end of the year.

We have developed a to-be organisation structure and initial operating model and we are engaged in recruitment and organisational change. We have grown from having 40 staff when we were established to having approximately 70 today. We hope to reach 160 staff early next year and will seek approval for additional staff beyond this in due course.

Coimisiún na Meán has a wide-ranging and important mandate. As set out in the briefing note, we have made substantial progress on what we believe is a very ambitious work programme so that we can deliver value for the public as quickly as possible. In the coming weeks, we will commence work on our 2024 work programme and we look forward to updating the committee when it is finalised. I thank the committee for the opportunity to meet with it today. My colleagues and I are happy to answer any questions members may have.