Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 25 November 2021

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33 - Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Chapter 7 - Oversight of Funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020

9:30 am

Photo of Paul McAuliffePaul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is interesting that Ms Licken raises the Future of Media Commission because there has been a lot of discussion about online platforms. Unfortunately, Facebook forums have become the predominant forum for local community news. The difficulty with that is that it carries with it all the threats that social media bring while at the same time giving local communities really good forums. Those forums are massively open to both political and malignant manipulation, so the lack of a strong Dublin media, both in local print and on local radio, is a major policy gap. While I accept that it is the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland's role, I believe that within the broader work being done by the Future of Media Commission, we need to look specifically at the capital. I see that Ms Licken wants to respond to that.