Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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108. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the steps he is taking to protect the independence of our national broadcasters; the improvements that are being put in place to monitoring the integrity of this independence; if he has concerns at concentrations of ownership within and across media platforms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22937/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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Part 7 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 provides for public service broadcasting in Ireland and sets out the provisions relating to the regulation, operation and funding of the public service broadcasting corporations, RTÉ and TG4, including their principal objects. These objects provide the companies’ statutory mandates and encapsulate national policy in terms of public service broadcasting. Section 98 provides that RTÉ and TG4 shall be independent in the pursuance of these objects, subject to the requirements of the Act.

Section 42 of the 2009 Act provides for the preparation and revision of codes governing the standards and practice of broadcasters, encompassing the issues raised by the Deputy concerning editorial independence. In addition, Part 4 of the 2009 Act makes provision for the preparation and implementation of codes of practice in relation to complaints handling and for a complaints process for cases where, for example, a broadcaster is considered to have failed to have complied with a Broadcasting Code.

The Broadcasting Act 2009 assigns these functions to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, an independent regulatory body, including the role to investigate and adjudicate cases where complaints are made.

I am satisfied that the BAI’s approach to regulation in this area respects the editorial independence of broadcasters while providing the appropriate level of regulatory oversight to protect the interests of citizens.

Ireland has a particularly concentrated media market. This is a function of the small size of the market and the relative ease with which actors from other jurisdictions can enter the market, either merely for advertising sales or with Irish specific editorial content. It falls on Government to vigilantly guard the public interest in maintaining the plurality of media. Accordingly the Government introduced the new media merger regulatory regime in the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 and I published the associated guidelines on the 10 June 2015 following a public consultation process.