Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A number of speakers have referred to World Press Freedom Day, which is today. Press freedom is something we take very seriously in Ireland and it is honoured and cherished. To this day I am still a proud member of the National Union of Journalists, NUJ. To say in here that we do not have press freedom in the State is wrong. Journalists in this State operate in a free society. Not only is their work conducted without fear, often the work of the media is financially supported by the State.At a hearing of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht, of which I am a member, the chair of Independent Broadcasters of Ireland, Mr. John Purcell, spoke of how his 34 member stations came critically close to being eradicated and shut down but for the support of this Government, when it put in place an emergency fund of €2.5 million. In 2020, the Future of Media Commission was established by this Government. Why? To create sustainable public funding and supports to ensure media in Ireland remain viable. Those are hardly the actions of a State that wants to shut down free debate and free media in this country. To say so is to conflate political debate and politicians being able to be critical of media. It works both ways. It is to do a disservice to scores of journalists who have real threats on their lives. I have seen them. My fellow Navan man, Simon Cumbers, was murdered, working for the BBC, by terrorists in Riyadh. The Leader and I went to a meeting in Minsk in Belarus that was attended by Lukashenko, where he had journalists dragged out and jailed. He had 100 journalists jailed the year the Leader, the Cathaoirleach and I were there. I do not see Hugh O'Connell, Miriam Lord or Ciara Phelan being dragged out of the press gallery here and thrown in prison. We thank the media for their work. We acknowledge what journalists do in a free society and we acknowledge the freedoms they are afforded by this State.