Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am a member of the committee that published the report mentioned in this motion. At the time of publication, I made it clear that despite the report containing a wealth of good information on broadcasting and funding models, we fundamentally disagreed with its recommendations, the biggest one being that Revenue should collect the licence fee or a revamped version of that fee. We have huge problems with aspects of the report's recommendations referenced in this motion. The motion is extraordinary. When one strips away some of the bizarre stuff on fake news and possible Government action to curb it, the motion boils down to a demand that the State funds in some way private radio stations to continue to provide what is a condition of their licences to broadcast, namely the condition that 20% of airtime be given over to news and current affairs. The motion tells us this a burden local stations cannot bear anymore, that it is a threat to their survival, and in some bizarre fashion might result in the growth of fake news instead of vibrant, democratic news, the bulwark of which is represented by these local stations. I am not sure if any Members listen to late night shock jocks, many of whom are on private radio stations. They might be surprised to find that fake news is alive and well, and not just on the Internet.

Like many Deputies, I received an invitation to the briefing yesterday by the radio stations in support of this motion. Both Newstalk and Today FM wrote to Deputies about this. One would be forgiven for mixing up the letters as both letters from two different radio stations were identical. That is not surprising as both Today FM and Newstalk are part of the Communicorp group, along with 98 FM, SPIN 1038 and SPIN South West, which are all owned by Denis O'Brien.

I do not accept that those stations in the stable of Communicorp are struggling independent radio stations that require State support to fulfil their obligation or indeed that supporting them will be some kind of bulwark against fake news taking over.

Today FM and Newstalk have 21% of the national listenership. Despite some creative accounting practices that record losses, it is clear these stations are viable and commercial. We know Denis O'Brien has to date advanced loans of over €93 million to the Communicorp group. This man is not renowned for charitable investment for the sake of shoring up loss-making enterprises.

I fully agree with support for local and particularly community radio stations that provide vital sources of information, connectivity and entertainment to regional and local audiences in urban areas. However, that would not be the outcome of this motion. The bulk of any subsidy would not go to struggling little independent stations; let us not kid ourselves about that. The funding would be for the provision of news and current affairs content and would go disproportionately to the bigger players.

Last May, Communicorp renewed its contracts with 28 regional local radio stations to provide news content. The Irish Timesreported:

Communicorp Media has renewed a contract to provide news bulletins to regional and local radio stations.

The radio group, controlled by businessman Denis O’Brien, has been running the syndicated service since 2009, which provides content to 28 local radio stations...

The service supplies local radio stations with news, sport, and entertainment bulletins for a fee.

Limiting how much any entity could get a result of this motion does not mean that the largest and most influential group within independent radio would not gain disproportionately because it is very likely that any funding to pay for or subsidise news and current affairs content would swell the coffers of Communicorp in one way or the other.

I quoted The Irish Timesreport for a reason. The motion waxes lyrical about how the radio sector can shore up democratic dialogue. It is ironic that the main beneficiary of this motion, Dennis O'Brien and Communicorp, continue to have a bar on any journalist from The Irish Timesappearing on their radio stations, something which the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland regrets but appears powerless to do anything about. That ban was because of comments by Fintan O'Toole about the sexism of one radio presentation. So much for fair comment or the democratic dialogue. However, with a straight face Fianna Fáil is suggesting taxpayers' money should fund the news content of Denis O'Brien's stations and help pay for their syndicated news bulletins.

I note also the clarion call in the motion about how independent journalism is essential to the democratic process. I again find it odd that the drafters did not look at media ownership in the radio sector they seek to support or even question whether an over-concentration of media ownership could be having a chill factor on many journalists in pursuing stories of vital public interest if they clash with the interests of certain media owners.

We need a serious discussion on how we should fund public broadcasting, promote plurality in the media, safeguard local and regional voices in media both print and radio, and ensure cultural and current affairs content are not sacrificed at the altar of commercial criteria. That serious discussion is not addressed in this motion.

I am all for seeking ways to fund local radio and the good news and current affairs content it delivers. Over the years west Dublin has had a very vibrant local community radio. It struggles to survive and can only survive by engaging community employment scheme workers. It does a wonderful job in connecting the communities. I understand that is the case everywhere in Ireland. I frequently take holidays in the west and I love to listen to the local radio stations to get the news and get a flavour of what is happening. However, I am less enthusiastic about finding ways to fund Dennis O'Brien’s media ownership. The taxpayers have been generous enough to that particular business man.

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