Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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93. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if RTÉ received funding from the Global Ireland Media Challenge Fund to boost media coverage of major geo-political developments and the changing nature of Ireland’s role in the world; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40998/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The purpose of the Global Ireland Media Challenge Fund is to support the provision of information about major geo-political developments, and the changing nature of Ireland’s role in the world, to the public in Ireland. It aims to do this by helping build the capacity of Irish media outlets to undertake international reporting.

A core principle of the Fund is editorial independence. Following the allocation of funding to organisations to support their coverage of international issues, the Department does not direct the organisations in terms of the projects selected, the tone of the coverage, or the allocation of staff to carry out this work.

The organisations that are currently in receipt of funding are RTÉ, Reach Media, The Business Post, Bauer Media, The Examiner, The Journal and Virgin Media Television. All funding decisions and the recipient media outlets are publicly available on gov.ie website to ensure full transparency on the scheme. To date, RTÉ has received €720,000 from the scheme.