Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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199. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he is satisfied regarding media diversity here; his plans to review media ownership and media control; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16907/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Media diversity in Ireland is supported by various legislation and policies. Firstly, the Broadcasting Act requires the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland to ensure the provision of open and pluralistic broadcasting services; to promote diversity in viewpoint, outlet and source, and to promote diversity in control of the more influential commercial and community broadcasting services.

One way in which the BAI achieve these goals is to assess licence applications and proposals for ownership and control changes under the BAI ownership and Control Policy 2012. Further information regarding the work of the Authority can be found on itswebsite.

As a result of amendments made to the Competition Act 2002 by the Competition & Consumer Protection Act 2014, all media mergers must be notified to me as Minister. Following an assessment of the proposed media merger's impact on the plurality of media in the State,  I must make a determination whether or not the proposed media merger may proceed.

The examinations of all previous proposed media mergers conducted by my Department are available on my Department’s website, as are a number of supplementary materials and aFAQ pageconcerning the media mergers process.

The amendments to the Competition Act also require the BAI to prepare a report every three years which describes the ownership and control arrangements for media businesses in the State; describes changes to ownership and control arrangements over the previous three years, and analyses the effect of those changes on the plurality of media in the State.

The first such report "Report on Ownership and Control of Media Businesses in Ireland 2012-2014" is also available on my Department's website. Preparatory work on the second such report by the BAI for the period 2015-2017 is currently underway.