Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this matter. Print media and radio play an essential role in sharing reliable and relevant news and bringing communities together. The wider media sector in Ireland, which is a vital element of our democracy and society as a whole, is undergoing fundamental change. This is in part due to the increased digitalisation of news and media content generally and the associated decline in advertising revenue as a consequence.

The report of the Future of Media Commission examined the challenges facing the media sector, including print and radio, and the consequent impact on the provision of public service content. The report made a number of recommendations to counter these challenges and support the provision of public service content. The report of the Future of Media Commission was considered by Government in July last year. The Government decided to accept 49 of 50 of its recommendations.

One recommendation made by the Future of Media Commission was for the establishment of a new media fund to provide support for the provision of public service content by the wider media and journalism sector at local, regional and national levels, on a platform neutral basis. The media fund is being established on an administrative basis, with the local democracy and courts reporting schemes being prioritised for implementation by Coimisiún na Meán, with €6 million allocated in budget 2024 for this purpose. The local democracy reporting and courts reporting schemes will operate as contestable award schemes on a platform neutral basis, under which Coimisiún na Meán will award successful applicants with funding to support the production of public service content over a fixed period through the deployment of additional journalistic resources.

The core focus of the local democracy reporting scheme will be to provide comprehensive coverage of the proceedings of local authorities and associated committees. In addition, it is intended that local democracy reporters will carry out other tasks outside of providing reports of meetings, including reporting on the functions and activities of local authorities, reviewing publications and records to identify stories of public interest, and to report on other matters relevant to local democracy which are in the public interest.

The overall purpose of the courts reporting scheme will be to fund comprehensive, professional and publicly accessible reports of court proceedings at a District Court and Circuit Court level.The fewer cases that are reported, the less aware the public is of the rule of law and the less informed they are as to whether the administration of justice is functioning as it should be.

Given the high-level design of both schemes, it is considered that they may constitute state aid to economic operators in the news and current affairs market. Accordingly, the schemes may require a full state aid notification to, and the approval of, the European Commission. The pre-notification form for the media fund schemes was received by the European Commission on 6 September 2023. It is expected that the pre-notification process will take a number of months, following which a formal state aid notification, if required, will be submitted to the European Commission. Following state aid approval, Coimisiún na Meán will be in a position to implement the schemes.

Officials in the Department of the Minister, Deputy Martin, have consulted extensively with members of the Future of Media Commission stakeholder consultative forum, which includes representatives from across the media sector, throughout the year as part of the high-level policy development process for the schemes. Officials will continue to engage with these members and, indeed, with all stakeholders to keep them informed of developments on this matter.

The detailed design of the schemes, based on the high-level policy principles developed by the Department of the Minister, Deputy Martin, is currently being undertaken by Coimisiún na Meán.

Subject to state aid approval, it is expected that the schemes will begin in 2024. The Department continues to engage with Coimisiún na Meán on the matter, and it is expected that Coimisiún na Meán will progress further stakeholder consultation on the detailed design of the schemes in early 2024.