Mr. Ivan Yates:

Thank you, Chairman, and good evening to you all. I am very happy to be here with the committee this evening. I understand, as the Chairman has just alluded to, that the committee invited a number of people who train politicians for media engagements to come along but I am the only one who agreed to come along. That is a pity because we would all benefit from hearing various different perspectives on these issues.

I am still flabbergasted at the volume of attention that has focused on my media training activities over the past three weeks. Media training has actually been a small element of my commercial activities over the past number of years and media training for politicians has been even smaller but in the past few weeks it seems to have assumed an enormous importance. To be honest, I am surprised at the level of surprise that my work in this area has generated. I am only operating on one social media myself and that is LinkedIn. The second item under the my "Experience" entry is “Media Trainer” and as most people know that I am former politician, it hardly requires an enormous leap of imagination that I might have combined these interests at some point. While I have always kept the identity of my training clients confidential, my work with Fianna Fáil politicians has been written about before. In early 2022, for example, John Drennan of the Irish Daily Mail wrote about it, without any input from me I might add, and without much interest from anyone afterwards to be honest.

Media training is something that I have been doing for about four years, and I can elaborate on the circumstances of that, but I was not doing this work in any way when I was a full-time broadcaster between 2009 and 2020. I am no longer a full-time broadcaster. In July 2020, in the middle of Covid, I left Dublin of my volition, left "The Tonight Show", left "The Hard Shoulder" and left broadcasting.

My main activity now is working with clients across the economy on conferences and events. Typically, I either act as guest speaker or as an MC or, like tomorrow in Croke Park, chairing a conference. I am also a founding co-host of the "Path to Power" podcast alongside Matt Cooper. This ran, for my part, from December 2023 to October 2025. Podcasts hold a very important space in the media ecosystem. A major part of their attraction is that they take a looser, less cautious, more contrarian approach to issues and allow voices to be heard that are increasingly hard to hear in the so-called mainstream media. They are primarily opinion based. In the case of "Path to Power", I do not think anyone was tuning in to hear two versions of Matt Cooper. The contrast between the styles and approaches of Matt, on the one hand, and myself, on the other, was a major attraction for listeners or viewers. I approached issues from a very different perspective - with deep political experience and connections, with relationships across the parties and with a real-world experience of both the economy and politics. This is part of the attraction. A guaranteed mood killer of that environment would have been if we had been forced to preface every debate with a disclaimer or a declaration of interests. Thankfully, we did not and I hope that burden is never placed on podcasters.

Aside from my podcasting, controversy has arisen about my broadcasting roles and remarks during recent months of the presidential election. The committee will be aware, and only today, that Coimisiún na Meán is presently conducting a review into these matters with both Newstalk and RTÉ. Matters pertaining to the operation and implementation of their code are being properly processed there. I do not believe it is the function of this committee to carry out a parallel investigation or prejudice the outcome of that due process. I do not propose this evening to give further answers to my perspectives on these matters other than a lengthy interview I had with David McCullough, on RTÉ's "Today with David McCullough" programme on 10 November.

However, I want to make it clear that I am available to Coimisiún na Meán, if it desires it. As always, it is open to any member of the public and this happened throughout my broadcasting career, there were complaints all the time. If people said that I did not with fairness or objectivity, they can lodge an objection with the commission, and previously that was the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI. There were many complaints against me. None, I believe, were upheld. However, with five decades of personal experience in the media - asking and answering questions, and commentating - I am happy to relay any general insights into how programmes are made, with editorial-production teams, and the role of the presenter. Similarly, I am happy to explain the modus operandi of media training and coaching, and what it does and does not include. I am quite happy to discuss that.

In relation to my various roles, I feel I must assert my bona fides. I have always acted in good faith in discharging every and any role to the best of my ability. My commentary role is based on my genuine independent opinions. I have always sought to be legally compliant with all legislation, be it taxation, the Revenue Commissioners, Companies Registration Office, CRO, the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, etc. My stances on many issues have never been a secret. It is a bedrock of my pugnacious broadcasting style. I seek to operate in the equivalent of the op-ed section of a print newspaper, and I have written many columns in my day, in the style of a polemicist. I have never felt beholden to anyone for other work.

I want to say a few words on understanding conflicts. I believe my predictions and punditry in every one of the 43 constituencies during the elections were based solely on trying to be as accurate and informative as possible. I do not believe any training role altered the way I saw the election unfolding or the performance of various candidates. There are all sorts of conflicts across every walk of life, including relationships, family, friendships, political, shared experiences and financial. Can we police them all? Do we want to drown our legacy media in more and more onerous regulations, rules and protocols or do we want to trust people to manage reasonable situations reasonably and to trust their audiences to make up their own mind?

Finally, as regards this committee's consideration of future legislation, regulation and the policy of the media, I note it is deliberating the broadcasting Bill 2025 and, inter alia, the establishment of a register of interests. In all future roles, I will of course abide by prevailing regulations that apply. I understand, however, that there have been difficulties with the RTÉ register in the context of the Data Protection Commission and GDPR, to the extent that no personal details have been revealed. To extend this on a statutory basis to all broadcasters and podcasters would have severe consequences. Instead of controlling hate speech, it could limit free speech. The reality is that people who express strong opinions on topics such as migration, Donald Trump, the woke agenda and the nanny state do not conform to a mainstream media consensus. A sanitised, politically correct media limits the national conversation. It could widen the gap between ordinary people and the beltway. A national echo chamber is one of the greatest drivers of alternative media.

Thank you, a Chathaoirligh. I look forward to the committee's questions.