Mr. Peter McCarthy:

It was a good point that Senator Byrne made regarding the news because, in particular over the past 14 months during Covid, we have rolled out an amount of new technology to make sure our news reporters were on the front line and at the daily conferences but were safe as well, so we gave them the technology they could operate on the road. We have seen an increase in viewing of nearly 50% in our news. That is something Virgin Media television is really promoting, pushing and enforcing to ensure that happens. Senator Byrne probably saw from my comments on the content levy that media literacy is vital, and that is why we asked that if there is a content levy, it would be put towards media literacy and supporting journalists. The big thing we are seeing is that fake news is out there, and with the US and everything else that has happened, Ireland is still turning to the broadcasters for news at 5.30 p.m. and the different news alerts for their updates. That is the case in particular over the past year and we need to keep it going and promote it.