Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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208. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she intends providing Exchequer or licence funding to commercial radio stations that provide a designated amount of national and local news, current affairs coverage and live sport to help them fulfil their vital public service broadcasting role; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60954/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Funding through the Sound and Vision Scheme, which is administered by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), is available to commercial radio stations for the production of programming on Irish culture, heritage and experience. The purpose of the Scheme is to support eligible content across the broadcasting sector as a whole, ensuring a balanced and fair approach.

The Sound and Vision Scheme is funded primarily by 7% of television licence revenues, but can also be augmented by Exchequer funding. Since taking office, I have secured significant additional resources for the Scheme, which has enabled increased and targeted investment in the wider broadcasting sector, including funding rounds specifically for radio content. Over that period the Scheme has delivered €5m in ring-fenced rounds for the commercial radio sector and has also received almost €2m additional funding through other rounds.

In light of the concerns for the sector which Deputies have raised with me, during the Report Stage of the OSMR Bill in the Dáil last week I announced my intention to provide a further €2.5m in Exchequer funding to the Scheme. This will support another specific round of Sound and Vision for commercial radio, which will be rolled out through the BAI in 2023.

While the funding of local and national news and current affairs programming is not permitted under the Broadcasting Act, in Budget 2023 I secured €6m for the establishment of the new Media Fund. This will initially fund two schemes, a Local Democracy Reporting Scheme and a Court Reporting Scheme. They are to be administered on a platform-neutral basis and I expect that local radio will be well-placed to benefit significantly under these schemes. My intention is that these will be in play before the end of 2023, with the other schemes recommended by the Future of Media Commission to come on stream at later dates.

Finally, as I also signalled at Report Stage last week, I have written to the BAI asking that they engage with the sector with a view to understanding the dynamics of the current economic environment and its impacts on them. I have asked them to report back to me within 100 days. It is important that we have robust and independent data to underpin decisions on supports for the sector.