Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus leis an gcoiste as an deis chun imleabhar na Meastachán Athbhreithnithe don tSeirbhís Phoiblí thar ceann mo Roinne a chur in iúl mar Aire Cultúir, Cumarsáide agus Spóirt. I thank the Cathaoirleach. He will recall that I appeared before this committee on 15 July 2025 with regard to the 2025 Revised Estimates for the Department, and I thank the committee for recommending them to the Dáil at that point. I am back again today because those figures have been slightly revised due to the addition of the Irish Film Classification Office, IFCO, to my Department.

IFCO was originally established as the Irish Film Censor in 1923 and it was renamed in 2008. The office is responsible for examining and certifying cinema releases and video works distributed in Ireland. IFCO’s aim is to provide the public, particularly parents, with a modern and dependable system for classification that protects children and young persons, while having regard for freedom of expression and respect for the values of Irish society.

To give the committee an idea of the scope of IFCO, 1,365 theatrical works were classified in 2024, which is an increase of more than 20% on 2023. A total of 1,055 works have been classified to date in 2025. The preparation of the order transferring IFCO to this Department was a matter for the Department of justice. It was signed on 25 July 2025 and came into effect on 1 August 2025. That happened later than earlier transfers as both the Department of justice and my Department were focused on achieving substantive transfers in the first instance.

In the Further Revised Estimate volume under consideration, the subhead for IFCO has been aligned to the broadcasting programme C. It appears as subhead C9. In funding terms, IFCO operates a net-zero cost to the Exchequer. While there is an outlay of €772,000 to the office in terms of pay and administration, it is forecasted to take in €840,000 in classification fees for 2025. A further €60,000 has been added to the payline of my Department, represented under subhead C1, to account for full-time resources to support the organisation. This means there is a gross increase of €832,000 to my Department for 2025. However, given the level of IFCO receipts and appropriations-in-aid, there is a slight net decrease of just €8,000 against the figures the committee cleared in July. The revised overall allocation to the Department for 2025 is now €1.383 billion. This will facilitate the funding for the sectors overseen by the Department, which play a role in the quality of life and well-being of every citizen, both young and old, and are a key part of the fabric of how we express ourselves as individuals, a society and a nation.

While I do not propose to revisit the detail of this allocation, which we discussed in July, I will make a brief overview of the sectoral allocations.

The 2025 allocation for arts and culture remains at €380.993 million. While the focus of this committee appearance is about 2025, I should mention that I have secured over €384 million for the arts and culture programme for 2026. While I will no doubt come to this committee again to discuss the 2026 allocations, I would like to underline the importance of securing continued funding for the basic income for artists scheme, beyond the extension of the pilot to February 2026. I now plan to bring proposals for a successor scheme to Government, taking account of the quantitative and qualitative research, the public and stakeholder consultation feedback and the findings of the cost benefit analysis carried out on the scheme.

The communications programme area still has a total allocation of over €442 million for 2025. A key priority for me remains completing the roll-out of the national broadband plan over the coming year. Very good progress is being made on this and we are on track to deliver the deployment ahead of schedule. Over 420,000 premises are forecast to be passed by the end of 2025, with approximately 4,000 new connections now being completed monthly. Design work is completed in townlands across every county in the country. with over 567,000 premises surveyed. This programme is transformative for rural Ireland. Budget 2026 provides an allocation of €483 million for communications, of which €433 million will allow the national broadband plan to be substantially rolled out.

The broadcasting programme is where we see the change in relation to IFCO, the Irish Film Classification Office. The allocation to this programme area is now €329.768 million in 2025, representing the IFCO increase of €832,000. This allocation will continue to promote and protect the diverse and plural media sector by ensuring the provision of high-quality public service programming and public interest journalism. It will also ensure the ongoing independence and recognised integrity of our independent media to help protect a free and pluralistic media sector and to combat the growing challenge of misinformation and disinformation. It will also support online safety for children, which is a Government priority and a top priority for me as Minister. It is essential that we make sure children do not see illegal, harmful or inappropriate content while being able to safely avail of all the benefits of the online world. For the broadcasting programme, budget 2026 facilitates ongoing investment with an allocation of almost €357 million.

Finally, €230.681 million is provided for sport in 2025 in these Estimates. Sport is a central part of Irish life, from the grassroots local level right up to our elite athletes and teams. I am committed to ensuring that it continues to contribute positively to health and well-being across all elements of society. We will achieve this by continuing to invest in much-needed facilities throughout the country via allocations this year for the community sport facilities fund, CSFF, and the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF. In addition, we have provided increased funding for Sport Ireland to support sporting organisations and programmes. As we have discussed previously, we also have a number of important major sports events planned over the next two years. A record allocation of over €290 million for 2026 allows us to maintain this strong record of delivery on the sport programme. While that has been a brief summary of the allocations for 2025, which we discussed previously in July, the core reason for my attendance today is in relation to the adjustment to the Revised Estimates as a result of the transfer order with regard to the Irish Film Classification Office, which came into effect from 1 August.