Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for being with us today. There is great enthusiasm to see Coimisiún na Meán up and running and to see the position it is in. Obviously, myself and all my colleagues believe in the importance of what this organisation can do. Our State broadcaster has been through a turbulent time over the last couple of months. Ms Craig alluded to having seen the damage this has done among the public and the view on the importance of our public service broadcaster, how funds have been used within the organisation, and how we move forward with funding public service broadcasting into the future. Would members like to comment on that and on how can we help RTÉ rebuild the public's trust? How might that be done?

Regarding the funding piece with RTÉ and all public service broadcasters, there is an agreement across all the political divides that there is more than just RTÉ providing very important public service broadcasting. One of the positives that came out of the Covid-19 pandemic, if there was one, is the public appreciation of our public service broadcaster and there is no doubt that has been dinted and damaged in some way. Would members like to comment on that? What are their thoughts and reflections on that? How we can support and rebuild public confidence so that when it comes to whatever mechanism the Government decides will be the long-term funding of public service broadcasting, the public can buy into it in a confident way.