Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus le baill an choiste as an deis mo chuid cuspóirí a chur in iúl inniu mar Aire Cultúir, Cumarsáide agus Spóirt. I thank the Chairman for the good wishes he extended to both myself and the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue.

Culture, connectivity, creativity, the arts, access to information, and sport play a key role in the quality of life and well-being of every citizen of Ireland, both young and old. The overarching priority of the Department is to harness arts, media, communications, culture and sport to enhance our quality of life and to facilitate a growing population.

As Minister, it will be a key priority for me to support artists and the creative sectors. In this context, I have spoken before of the importance of the basic income for arts in supporting artists and in assisting them in dealing with precarious incomes. I have heard some first-hand testimonies of how the scheme has prevented talented people from leaving the sector for economic reasons. I recently extended the pilot to February 2026 to allow for further evaluation of the data submitted every six months by those participating in the scheme. The extension will give sufficient time to engage in stakeholder consultation and to evaluate the data that will provide the evidence base for the Government to make decisions on the next steps.

That is just one support. The funding which the Department provides the sector through the Arts Council, Screen Ireland and Culture Ireland all flows to support workers in the arts and creative sectors and to make Ireland a great place to live for its citizens. The Creative Ireland programme, delivered directly by the Department, partners with local authorities and many Government Departments and agencies in areas as diverse as climate change, education, children and health and through the shared island initiative to use the power of creativity to unlock initiatives and break down barriers in new and creative ways.

It will be important for me to progress the redevelopment of our national cultural institutions as key national assets. Noting that these are mainly based in Dublin, it is also important to me that we support investment in the physical infrastructure of cultural and arts venues in regional locations and ensure support for a vibrant local cultural life with high quality programming, whether that is from professional artists or local amateur dramatic societies, or through the amazing work that groups like Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann undertake up and down the country.

It is also important in an era when traditional media are under threat to support the Irish film and screen sector as well as broadcasters and local journalism. For instance, I launched a new scéal uplift for feature films and animated feature films on 22 May. This will benefit the Irish film sector and film industry, creative film workers and Irish cinemas, building on the success of the support already provided by section 481. I would also like to explore how we can accelerate the development of the gaming sector in Ireland.

I brought the revised general scheme of the broadcasting (amendment) Bill to Government in April this year, and I know that the committee is now considering this in pre-legislative scrutiny. The general scheme will improve transparency, accountability and value for money in RTÉ and TG4 and put in place a new statutory framework to support the provision of public service content by the wider media sector. I look forward to the outcome of pre-legislative scrutiny and to working together with the committee to progress the broadcasting (amendment) Bill to enactment.

Online safety for children is a Government priority and a top priority for me as Minister. It is essential that we make sure children do not see illegal, harmful, or inappropriate content while being able to safely avail of all the benefits of the online world. It is my view that robust age verification is essential for keeping children safe online. Last week, I met the main social media companies and reiterated this point to them. I am committed to working across government and with all stakeholders to ensure children and young people can be safe from harmful or illegal content online, in particular through robust age verification.

We are making progress. Coimisiún na Meán's online safety code sets out obligations for platforms to use age verification to prevent children seeing adult-only content and an coimisiún, along with the European Commission, has powers to address the risk of children seeing such content, but I think we need to do more. I am determined to make progress on this key issue and will work with other EU colleagues, including in the context of our Presidency of the EU next year, on effective and practical solutions that have regard to the rights of children, but that also protect them from harm.

Regarding communications, key priorities for me include completing the roll-out of the national broadband plan over the coming year and implementation of the digital connectivity strategy to ensure that all premises in the State have access to gigabit broadband by the end of 2028 with all populated areas covered by 5G no later than 2030. We must ensure the security and resilience of our communications and digital infrastructure in the face of increasing hazards, both from malicious attacks and from extreme weather events. I have been highly critical of the response of some of our service providers to the damage to communications infrastructure caused by Storm Éowyn. Notwithstanding the severity of that storm, it was unacceptable that some rural areas and customers were left for months without service. I have engaged with the regulator, ComReg, in this regard. I have written to individual operators seeking more detail on the actions that they have already taken since the storm and any remaining actions they intend to take before next winter.

My Department is also reviewing the statutory powers available to me, as Minister, and ComReg, relating to requirements for operators regarding gathering and sharing storm-related information; network integrity, including maintaining networks in a proper state; obligations regarding network restoration and related timeframes; and informing consumers about network and service restoration. I will be happy to keep the committee updated on these issues over the coming period. Another communications priority is the development of more subsea cables on new and diverse routes to improve Ireland's autonomy over its international connectivity, and allow full participation in Europe's connectivity ambitions.

The committee has also asked me to address issues regarding governance and the resignation of the director of the Arts Council. I will be happy to address any issues the committee wishes to raise, noting that there are personal issues involved and that I am awaiting the outcome of an expert advisory committee that I established to examine the culture and governance of the Arts Council. Nonetheless, I can assure the committee that good governance within my Department and in its role as parent Department to 17 State bodies is of fundamental importance, as is the protection of taxpayers' money by ensuring value for money at all times.

I will hand over to my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, to address the committee about sport and postal policy. It is safe to say that being from successful sporting counties in rural Ireland, which will be back, we are both hugely committed to investment in our local communities through supporting sport at every level and in every code, and in ensuring that Government delivers quality services locally, including through our local post office network.