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

The principle is that justice should be seen to be done. Sometimes judges refer to the media as the eyes and ears of the court. It is important that what happens in a court is reported. If it is a local issue, it may not be reported nationally, so we may have no visibility of what is going on in our justice system. It is a part of our justice system and, equally, it is important that what happens in a democracy is reported. Again, local democracy may not receive an airing in the national media, so we may have a situation where decisions are made democratically without any input or coverage from the press if the local media have withered away because of the influence of the Internet and so on. That is the goal - to preserve local media. They help to strengthen communities and allow people to see what is going on in their justice and democratic system.

These two schemes that are seeking state aid approval are not the only supports from the Government for local media. The fact that VAT was cut from 9% to 0% has been very beneficial to local newspapers. I am sure they appreciate that. The radio sector continues to be supported on an ongoing basis through the sound and vision scheme administered by Coimisiún na Meán. I understand as well that local newspapers and radio stations are sometimes overlooked in Government advertising campaigns. It is important that if public information is being put out through the national media, the local newspapers are not forgotten in that and the media-buying part of public information campaigns includes local media in order that we can reach people. Not everybody buys a national broadsheet paper or watches the TV news. It is important that we reach everybody around the country and that we are fair in our media buying.