Ms Aoife MacEvilly:

I thank the committee for the invitation to appear today. I am the broadcasting and on-demand commissioner. I am joined by fellow commissioner, Rónán Ó Domhnaill, media development commissioner, and my colleague, Andrew Byrne, director of public service media. Coimisiún na Meán’s overall vision is to ensure a thriving, diverse, creative, safe and trusted media landscape. We welcome the invitation to today’s meeting and the opportunity to discuss the future of public service media and public service content in Ireland.

We believe that public service media is a public good and the cornerstone of a vibrant audiovisual sector. Our recently launched strategy statement reflects our commitment to public service media and public service content, both of which play an essential role in a democratic society, informing public debate and discussion, ensuring all communities, particularly those more marginalised, are protected, informed and given a voice, while also encouraging and promoting innovation and experimentation. As Ireland’s media development agency, we work hard to foster a strong and sustainable public service media and this includes supporting and delivering on the recommendations of the Future of Media Commission report as well as the recommendations from the expert advisory committee, both of which we are pleased to see reflected in the general scheme.

Through the amendments to the broadcasting Acts, in addition to the introduction of the European Media Freedom Act, EMFA, in August 2025, we will continue to embrace our expanded remit, and we look forward to further developing our resources and capacity to develop a media landscape which benefits Irish audiences. Coimisiún na Meán also welcomes the constructive reforms to the existing legislation. We believe a sustainable, well-funded public service media is of critical importance to a well-functioning society and we appreciate the certainty provided for by the financial and strategic stability provisions in the general scheme, notably the multi-annual funding approach. Furthermore, such supports will help Ireland ensure compliance with certain aspects of EMFA, which also recommends adequate and sustainable funding for public service media, as well as multi-annual funding decisions to avoid risk of undue influence for yearly budget negotiations.

The general scheme envisages a more dynamic and integrated role for Coimisiún na Meán in setting commitments and designing a delivery framework for public service media organisations. We are committed to ensuring all our work is informed by a robust evidence base and welcome the introduction of a performance review and methodology framework. We look forward to working with the public service media organisations within a constructive, consultative process to identify the performance commitments and outputs and associated financial inputs, performance indicators and metrics. We also welcome that the scheme identifies, for the first time, the concept of public service content providers, which recognises the importance of commercial and community media across Ireland, and their crucial role in Ireland’s media landscape.

There are some areas of the scheme that may benefit from further consideration through the detailed drafting process. We also welcome the opportunity to engage further on the operationalisation of some aspects, including on how we will bring published content by public service media bodies within the same regulatory framework as that for broadcasting and on-demand services.

The application of regulatory content standards presents novel and complex issues. These warrant careful consideration. We welcome the establishment of the media fund on a legislative basis, including the proposed platform neutral structure of the fund, and the funding of new journalism schemes. Earlier this year, we announced that more than €5.7 million is being awarded in our first two journalism schemes, which will result in the creation of more than 100 new or enhanced journalism roles across the country. Our Sound and Vision scheme is also going from strength to strength and is celebrating 20 years in operation this year, funding programmes across television and radio. It is likely that these additional media development projects will increase both the number of applicants significantly across the schemes and the resulting demands on funding. An coimisiún suggests that the funding available for the media fund should be considered on a multi-annual basis with guaranteed funding, given the number and nature of funding schemes and other requirements such as the definition of public service content and the new list of underserved audiences.

We welcome the overall language and wording of the scheme. We are particularly pleased to be able to contribute to the committee’s discussion on this amendment and we look forward to continued engagement with committee members as the heads of the Bill are finalised.