Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 25 together.

In December 2019, the Government agreed the terms of reference for the commission on the future of Irish public service broadcasting, to be established by the Department of the Taoiseach. Professor Brian MacCraith, former president of Dublin City University, was appointed as chair of the commission. The programme for Government has expanded the remit of the commission on the future of Irish public service broadcasting to become the Future of Media Commission, which will consider the future of print, broadcast, and online media in a platform-agnostic fashion. The terms of reference have been amended in light of this expanded remit.

Today, the Government approved the terms of reference and membership of the Future of Media Commission. The commission is tasked with proposing how public service broadcasting aims should be delivered in Ireland over the next ten years, how this should contribute to supporting Ireland’s cultural and creative sectors, and how this work can be funded in a way that is sustainable, gives greater security of funding, ensures independent editorial oversight and delivers value for money to the public. The commission is also responsible for making recommendations on RTÉ’s role, financing and structure within this framework and how this is overseen and regulated while having regard to our European Union obligations, including the requirements of the revised audiovisual and media services directive.

The members of the Commission have been selected to capture a range of expertise in the various areas of public service communications and are as follows: chair of the commission, Professor Brian MacCraith, former president of Dublin City University; Sinead Burke, writer and academic active in social media and member of the Council of State; Alan Rusbridger, chair of the steering committee of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford and former editor-in-chief of Guardian News and Media; Lynette Fay, freelance broadcaster with an academic background in applied communications through Gaeilge; Nuala O’Connor, co-founder of South Wind Blows and writer and documentary film-maker in the areas of music and the arts; Gillian Doyle, professor of media economics at the University of Glasgow; Mark Little, CEO and co-founder of Kinzen and founder of Storyful, a social news agency; Stephen McNamara, director of communications at the Irish Rugby Football Union; and Dr. Finola Doyle-O’Neill, broadcast historian at University College Cork. Two further proposed members have agreed to serve on the commission, subject to approval by their employers. Their names will be announced once that approval is obtained.

It is expected that the commission will engage in wide-ranging consultation with all relevant stakeholders and sectors to ensure that all relevant perspectives are considered in its work. It is to report within nine months on the necessary measures that need to be taken to ensure there is a vibrant, independent and sustainable public service media for the next generation. I thank the eminent members of the commission for their commitment to chart the pathway for public service broadcasting and media, particularly Professor Brian MacCraith, who has been an innovator in education and is a pre-eminent intellectual in Irish public life. I look forward to receiving their recommendations in due course.

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