Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I realise that we are very tight on time, that another speaker wishes to come in and that the Minister needs to be gone by 2.05 p.m. I will be as brief as I possibly can.

I acknowledge the Minister's presence in the House and his first statement to this House on the issues he clarified in the Dáil. They are a very appropriate and honest reflection of what happened in those events. I acknowledge the Minister's contribution on this issue. I believe he has been a very honourable Minister and I fully support him in his endeavours.

The Minister has two major problems with regard to the proposals on where we are going with public service broadcasting and social media. I see two real issues, one of which is the sustainability of RTÉ in the next decade and where RTÉ will fit into the global media. The other issue is the regulation of social media. On Tuesday we had a very interesting debate with a vice-president from Facebook at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment. The space has moved so much in that way in the last few years. One would have to question where we are going with RTÉ as an entity going forward.

Consider the amount of money going into social media platforms and the changes in people's behaviours. How many people do not even have a television set now? People have a tablet or a mobile phone. People do not even want their television sets. When they speak of TV it is about Netflix and not RTÉ. The Minister has said that there are exceptions such as when there is a storm and people want to see what is happening locally. On average, however, people watch their Netflix and their box sets and that is how they get their information. This is how fake media will have an awful input to society, especially if people are looking at Facebook and Twitter. This will be a huge issue for us to regulate in the next few years. The challenges are immense and this portfolio brings exceptionally important challenges to us as a society.

With regard to RTÉ and the failure to collect TV licences at an appropriate level, it is really the elephant in the room. We have had a sale of land at Montrose in the last few years, which brought in €107 million. That will not happen again. We need to look at the long-term vision of how RTÉ is to be sustainable. The broadcaster got that injection of cash but I cannot see any more lands being developed unless it takes the amazing step of moving away from the Donnybrook site. RTÉ can broadcast from any location in the State. Why does it need to be in the exclusive environment of Donnybrook? Should we look at moving the RTÉ complex to a more suitable site and develop the entire complex itself? Is that the injection that is required for RTÉ to get a footing, or a leg underneath the table, so it can move on to become sustainable? The word "sustainable" in the context of RTÉ is the big issue in the room.

Revenues are falling. We have seen where the advertising is going. We need to keep our national broadcaster. This is going to be the strategy for the boss there; I was going to say the new boss but she is far from being the new boss as she has been in the position for more than 18 months. That is going to be the long-term strategy if we are to ensure that RTÉ stays in that space, with a real dimension of social media and where our news is to come from. If five years ago I had said that most of our news was going to come through Twitter and Facebook people would have laughed. We must be able to see where RTÉ is going to be in ten years' time and where that space is. This is a real dilemma. The strategy for RTÉ must be planned out and it must be an evolving and changing strategy. The broadcaster has money coming in through the sale of land but it is only a stopgap. A change to RTÉ practices or perhaps a move to another site to start with a clean bill of health might be the appropriate way of moving RTÉ forward.

I shall now turn to Internet safety. It is a huge issue. There were more than 100 parents at a public meeting about the issue in Clonakilty last Monday. It is a massive space affecting children's ability to access data. Teenagers' ability to gain access to information will take a lot of education for parents - not for the children. The kids know more about this space than their parents. This will involve a whole generational change and will involve parents taking ownership of the issues. I do not believe they have taken ownership of it. It is a huge debate given that a child aged eight, nine or ten years could can have a phone with Internet capability and a parent who does not know what the child could look at or what the child is looking at. First we must educate the parents on what needs to be done with regard to Internet safety. Is it right that children have data or Wi-Fi around the house 24 hours a day? To me that is nuts. Would a house have the TV on 24 hours a day? No. It would, however, have data and Wi-Fi on. There are so many issues such as this that need to be debated. It will be a huge space for us to try to get a handle on.

I am being beckoned at now so I would like to thank the Minister.