Noel McCarthy (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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596. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the measures being taken by his Department to further support local and community radio stations; if his Department is considering an increase in the budget of the Media Fund to support such measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47713/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Local and community radio stations play a vital role in providing valuable public service content to the Irish public, contributing to a plurality of voices in the media sector.

The Programme for Government acknowledges that local and national independent broadcasters perform a vital public service and deserve to have this recognised.

The community media sector receives ongoing support through the Sound and Vision Scheme, which provides dedicated funding rounds for the sector.

A major innovation in the current scheme has been the establishment of Social Benefit rounds specifically for community broadcasters. In the most recent round of funding under the Sound and Vision Scheme, over €740,000 was awarded to 19 community radio and television stations through a Social Benefit Round announced by Coimisiún na Meán at the end of June, taking the total funding awarded to community broadcasters so far in 2025 to just over €950,000.

This allocation builds on the over €1 million in funding that was provided to community media projects through the Sound and Vision Scheme in 2024.

Coimisiún na Meán are progressing a body of research into current community media supports. This research, when complete, will inform future policy decisions taken in relation to the development of further funding schemes.

€10 million was secured in Budget 2025 to ensure the continuation of the Local Democracy and Courts Reporting Schemes and to introduce two new schemes in 2025, the Digital Transformation and the News Reporting Schemes. Local and community radio stations are eligible to apply for all of these Schemes.

Earlier this year, €5.7m was awarded through the Local Democracy and Courts Reporting Schemes and a further funding round is now open for applications on a platform-neutral basis. The News Reporting Scheme was launched by Coimisiún na Meán and is currently open for applications. This €4m fund includes a ring-fenced €3m for the commercial radio sector which is made up primarily of local and regional independent radio stations.

The Digital Transformation Scheme will support investment in digital transformation measures, assisting media organisations in the continued provision of public service content which serves to inform the public, to maintain integrity of information and to preserve trust. A stakeholder consultation period for this scheme ended on the 4th September and Coimisiún na Meán will submit to me in the coming weeks a finalised scheme proposal, with a view to rolling out the Scheme as soon as is practicable, offering further support across the media sector.

The aforementioned measures are in addition to the Sound and Vision Scheme operated by Coimisiún na Meán, which provided over €22.7m in 2024 in funding to the production of audiovisual works with almost €1.7m of of this going to local and regional commercial radio. Over €350,000 has been provided in 2025 to the commercial radio sector through the scheme.

Sound and Vision has so far in 2025 provided over €7.8m in funding to the production of audiovisual works in support of over 100 projects. Coimisiún na Meán also intend to introduce an updated Sound and Vision Scheme to align with the enactment of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill and will be engaging with stakeholders to inform the design of that scheme in due course.

In line with the relevant Programme for Government commitments, Coimisiún na Meán will monitor the impact of each of these schemes, and update them as appropriate, in order to ensure they are accessible to the wider media sector and continue to deliver on intended objectives.

Community radio plays an invaluable role in community engagement, cohesion, and in the promotion of social inclusion in communities across the State.

I understand the importance of ensuring our local and regional media, who are among the most trusted news sources in the country, remain viable and strong and actively contribute to a thriving and diverse national media landscape in the interests of protecting our democracy against the threats posed by misinformation and disinformation and of strengthening our community bonds.

The Deputy will appreciate that annual allocations to the Media Fund are subject to the deliberative process for the forthcoming Budget and the preparation of the 2026 Estimates.