Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that but I hope that we still have platforms to cover courts and local councils. As was pointed out to us, there was no local newspaper in the area where the Grenfell Tower scenario happened. The planning decision on the tower was taken at a council meeting. There was no local paper in the area to cover that event.

The July Reuters report into trust in the Irish media showed there was a fall again this year. Interestingly, the top four most trusted news sources were RTÉ at 71% - it would be nice to see what that stands at now, given what has happened since - The Irish Times at 70%, local newspapers, interestingly, at 68%, with local radio at 70%. That is important. I make the point again that at the time "The Ryan Tubridy Show" in the morning was attracting 300,000 listeners, local radio had more than 750,000 listeners. This is in the same slot from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m.

I refer to RTÉ, its funding in terms of public service and the witnesses’ views on a media fund. Do they believe that a central media fund should be established, as has been spoken about with regard to reform of the system?