Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last Monday, 28 September, was World News Day. A global campaign was organised to highlight the important role of journalism. Journalism Matters is a campaign I fully support and I have no doubt all Senators support it, too. Newspapers, newsrooms, editorials and digital and social media are vital components in an era of so much misinformation and disinformation. More than ever, journalism and journalists are challenged to get the facts and report on the truth.

Local Ireland, the representative association of the Irish local news publishers, is urging the Government to support the vital role of public interest journalism. Journalism reports on the issues and stories that challenge, change and shape the public discourse and narrative. Journalism matters. Local Ireland is calling on the Government to tackle the dominance of the tech platforms and the digital advertising market. It is calling for urgent pro-competition reform to rebalance and restore competition with the digital advertising market. It is calling for the reduction of the VAT rate to 5% and, hopefully, eventually to 0%, as it is in Britain and the EU.

There is a need for the review and overhaul of the Defamation Acts and the reform of Ireland's defamation laws and I ask the Leader to call on the Minister for Justice to come to this House at a convenient time to discuss the review that has been sitting in the Department since 2017 and to give Members some report as to where this is going. If we want a vibrant local, regional and national news publishing industry that will report on county councils, the courts, the Oireachtas, Oireachtas Members, the EU and world affairs and that will raise awareness of the importance of societal issues and changes, we must support journalism. Journalism matters. Let us do something and support it.

On an issue I was asked to raise, why did the slot scheduled in the Order of Business for the Moorehead report on local government fall off the agenda? The Leader might give some explanation of that and when it will be rescheduled.

We are here to talk about the Order Paper and the Leader has a suggestion in the Order Paper today. If we support her proposal, we will adjourn this House tomorrow until next Wednesday. Every time there is a proposal to adjourn the House, I will look at it.I will ask the Leader to come to the House and explain the rationale because the public wants to know and we need to know the rationale behind adjourning the House tomorrow until next Wednesday.