Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Securing sustainable funding is key to the success of public service media. The regulation of all media is essential. We accepted 49 of the Future of Media Commission’s recommendations. The one that was not accepted last year was on an Exchequer funding model. The Government is of the view that reform and enhancement of the current television licence fee system is essential. We set up a technical working group to examine how that could be achieved. That group submitted a report to me at the end of March and we were at an advanced stage of negotiations on that, but it would not be appropriate for me to discuss the content of the technical group’s report before it is considered by the Government.

Given recent events, the decision has been paused, but we are determined to make a decision on the matter in the lifetime of this Government. Regulation of media is essential. We will not have the exact same codes for broadcasters and YouTube, for example, but there will be strong regulation of those as needed.

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