Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I welcome the Minister to the Chamber.

I would like to acknowledge the work of the Oireachtas joint committee on this Bill. It has been a lot of work for all the members in terms of preparing the report and I am glad to see that at least some of the recommendations that were advocated and recommended have been taken on board by the Minister. Some of them are still under review as part of the ongoing work over the next period of time and that is important as well.

I would make one point first, in relation to the commission itself. Generally, when new agencies are being established, they are established with a CEO and a chief financial officer, CFO, and a team of civil servants, and a board of directors would oversee the work that they carry out. This is the establishment of the commission, and perhaps it relates to its independence. I do not know how or why that path was taken. I am concerned in relation to the number of commissioners - less than three and not greater than six. Is there a board that is overseeing the work of the commission as well or is the commission doing the work of the board? It is unusual the way it is. In any other experience that I have had with agencies, they have an overseeing board that is accountable. In this case, there will be six commissioners who will be staff of the Coimisiún na Meán. That whole process is somewhat strange.

I welcome the establishment of the new regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, and the implementation of the EU services directive as well - the updated regulatory framework for broadcasting and on-demand audiovisual media. No doubt times are changing and things are changing. Certainly, we need to move with the times and ensure that there is regulation of all forms of media. That is certainly to be welcomed.

I welcome the initiatives that have taken place as well regarding the provision of the levies on content to be invested in Irish content. Irish audiences, as Screen Ireland has said, are paying international online media services and to be able to charge a levy to ensure that that money is invested in original Irish content is certainly welcome. However, there are concerns that the Bill does not state when this levy would start. There would be concerns that we are missing out on valuable funds that could be invested in Irish content.

I certainly welcome - perhaps this came from the committee as well - the provision in the powers and functions of the commission that the democratic values enshrined in the Constitution, especially those relating to rightful liberty of expression, are upheld, that the interests of the public, and in particular the interests of children, are protected, which is hugely important, and in the proposed new section 7(3)(d), that the commission shall promote and stimulate the development of programmes in the Irish language - tá sé sin fíor tábhachtach - and that programmes relating to climate change and environmental sustainability are included. I am wondering why those two latter points alone are included and if this should be the case for other areas such as, for example, programmes to encourage accurate portrayal of history and to encourage people, in particular, young people, to be made aware of or shown accurate historical content in an easier way to learn. We are missing out in this country and across the world on our history in a wide range of areas and it is hugely important. Over the past number of years, we have seen the proliferation of jargon around fake news. That is an issue of concern. I suppose it originated in a particular jurisdiction but the proliferation of fake news is an area of concern across the world. Public service broadcasting is hugely important to provide accurate portrayal of the news, not one's opinion or one side's opinion. The partisan media that are portrayed in the United States certainly are not something that I would like to see. The facts should be the facts. They should not be your facts or my facts; they should be just the facts. There needs to be a reliable source of news, journalist integrity and a public service broadcast that can state what the indisputable facts are. That is important.

I welcome the Bill. It is complex. I acknowledge the amount of work that has gone into it and I certainly hope that there will be a fuller debate on Committee Stage on all relevant sections.