Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This morning we saw the publication of Facebook Ireland's revenue for 2020 and it has now reached a record €40 billion per annum. Huge congratulations are due to it and its employees. It employs nearly 2,500 people in Ireland and salaries and pension costs account for some €377 million. That is a huge and welcome investment in this country. The average wage for an employee in the company is €168,000, so it is a huge asset to the country. What it also highlights is that social media giants like Facebook dwarf the traditional media in this country and, indeed, the revenue traditional media would have had as well.

My point is that the traditional media is bound by exceptionally stringent rules in terms of libel, the Press Council of Ireland and what they can or cannot publish. That is not the same for these companies that now make billions of euro in our country. Those of us who are members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media have completed pre-legislative scrutiny of the online safety and media regulation Bill. Last month, we published our recommendations that included the introduction of a content levy, which will be reinvested in original Irish content. When one considers the massive revenue earned by Facebook and other social media giants, the contribution made to our own would be minimal but it would mean a hell of a lot. We have to see action on this matter.

This Bill was supposed to be with us before the summer and with the future of media commission as well by the summer. We are not going to have the Bill in the House before Christmas. These guys move at a pace that leaves the legislative framework behind. There is no legislative framework at the moment. We have attempted to put that in place and the Bill must come before us. The chairman of the committee, Deputy Niamh Smyth, and the members of the committee, including Senator Malcolm Byrne, have done a significant amount of work in bringing a huge swathe of media and other organisations before our committee. We need to see the Bill introduced. I implore the Leader to ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Martin, about the legislation because when one considers the amount of money that is earned by these giants, which are not subject to the same stringent rules as observed by traditional media in this country, we need to see action in this sphere.