Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach very much and I thank him also for his welcome to Ms Mia Galligan and Ms Mya Doocey who are witnesses today, as the Cathaoirleach has said, at the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media. These are two transition year students and it is highly commendable that they are here today as witnesses for a full Oireachtas committee. The received a commendation at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition for the research they carried out on the impact of periods on young female athletes and their participation in sport. This research has been done in conjunction with elite female Olympians. It is a highly commendable piece of work and we look forward to their presentation at the Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media later this afternoon.

I also want to speak about the fact that the new media commission, Coimisiún na Meán, launched its work programme yesterday. I commend them on that. It is great that it is up and underway. We worked long and hard on the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill in this Chamber and it is great that an coimisiún is now working on implementing the new regulatory regimes for how these online service providers deal with harmful and illegal content. We have had it for too long and it is great that an coimisiún has come out with a very strong intent on how these companies will be handled. It is not afraid and will not shy away from the fact that the major players are here. This is a very good thing from a tech point of view but, equally so, it is not for us to bow our knee to companies which flagrantly flout the law either and we have very comprehensive legislation now to deal with that situation on online safety.

I also welcome the fact that an coimisiún has spoken too about media development and about the new journalism scheme to support reporting of local courts and local democracy. That is important because last week we had the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism report into the media in Ireland which showed a decrease in the consumption of news in Ireland and a reduction of trust in the media in this country. That is a worrying trend. We need to ensure we stand and regain that connection between the public and our media organisations. The new media commission will ensure that happens.