Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 25 October 2022
Select Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media
Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage
Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I understand what the Minister said about editorial independence and political interference; that goes without saying. Nevertheless, when the national broadcaster is redrawing the map of Ireland, that is something else entirely. It is redrawing the map of Ireland, and Irish people throughout the country, from Derry to Kerry, are seeing six counties having been knocked off the island of Ireland on our national broadcaster. This does not involve political interference. Given RTÉ is publicly funded through the licence system, surely there is some mechanism by which we could resolve this. It is wholly offensive, in the first instance. There has to be something we could do. Are we legally precluded from doing something about it?