Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

He said nothing.

I am proud of my time in government. I am proud that I travelled all over the world to get some of those businesses to come to this country. I am proud that I stood as a Minister against the Department of Justice and Equality that wanted to do all sorts of thing with regard to data retention. We had an ethical principle and a vision of where the digital revolution was going, but it is deeply despairing that in the past seven years, for which Fine Gael is accountable, it seems to have disappeared out the door. It is because we need these digital industries which I support because we need the digital revolution to do a whole load of things that I want high standards.

The Taoiseach did not answer my second question. He spoke about private businesses and their rights, but RTÉ is not a private company; it is a public company. With all other radio stations, it needs support. We need to increase the broadcasting fund, extend it to the print media and allow people to bid for that funding. The Taoiseach has failed to answer the question on so many occasions. His Government is going to do nothing as Irish media wilt on the vine and all of the business goes to international multimedia companies. That is an insult to the media in this country and a threat to our democracy. The Government needs to fund media if we are to have a proper institution to protect our democracy.

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