Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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147. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the estimated timeline for the publication of the online safety and media regulation Bill; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54844/21]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I also thank the Deputy and her colleagues in the Joint Oireachtas Committee (JOC) for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media for the publication, on Tuesday of last week, of a comprehensive pre-legislative scrutiny report in relation to the General Scheme of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill. The 33 recommendations contained in the report raise a wide range of important issues and highlight the scale and complexity of the matters to be addressed in the Bill.

I commend the thorough and consultative approach taken by the JOC in conducting its pre-legislative scrutiny, which represents a continuity of the approach in developing the General Scheme, which involved public consultation and significant stakeholder engagement.

Last year, when I asked the Government to request that the JOC conduct pre-legislative scrutiny, I also asked the Government to approve the commencement of detailed drafting of the Bill by the Office of the Attorney General at the same time. The detailed drafting process is now nearing completion and will be finalised once I have carefully considered the JOC's report and recommendations.

A number of recommendations in the JOC report are straightforward and can be provided for with some additional legal drafting work from the Office of the Attorney General. A number of others are more complex, either directly dealing with technical legal drafting matters, or raising new policy proposals with significant practical and legal implications.

While I am closely considering all the recommendations, there are some which deal with issues that I have been examining for some time. This includes how the Bill can be further strengthened in order to better protect individuals online, including issues relating to the appropriate avenues of complaint or redress.

I intend to progress the Bill as a matter of urgency. It will be published as soon as is practicable following due consideration of the JOC's report and recommendations.

Finally, I note that €5.5 million was allocated in Budget 2022 to establish a new regulator, the Media Commission, under the Bill. While the Commission will ultimately be funded by an industry levy, this start-up funding will enable the Commission to hire an Online Safety Commissioner, to begin work on key issues and to hit the ground running following the enactment of the Bill in 2022.