Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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43. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the dates and times of any discussions she has had with radio broadcasters to improve the amount of Irish music on radio and to address their concerns over the lack of funding for news and current affairs services; if she has any plans to address these issues; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37066/24]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The Future of Media Commission (FOMC), in examining the challenges faced by the media sector and consequent impact on the provision of public service content, made a number of recommendations to counter these challenges and to support the provision of public service content. This included the establishment of a new Media Fund to provide support for the provision of public service content by the wider media sector at local, regional and national levels on a platform neutral basis.

The Commission recommended €30m be provided for the Media Fund. That included the funding already made available through the existing Broadcasting Fund, which amounts to an average of €15m per annum from TV licence receipts and which supports the Sound and Vision Scheme. Since the formation of this Government a further €28.4m in Exchequer funding has been provided to Sound and Vision, enabling increased investment in public service content for television and radio.

The FOMC also recommended that new schemes under this new Media Fund should be put in place on a platform neutral basis, i.e. that they should be open to all media including audiovisual, radio, digital and newspapers.

In Budget 2024, I secured €6m for two pilot schemes under this Fund, the Local Democracy Scheme and the Courts Reporting Scheme. As the schemes are being administered by Coimisiún na Meán on a platform neutral basis, commercial radio are fully eligible to apply for funding.

I have secured a further €10m in funding for the Media Fund in 2025 to allow for the continuation of these Schemes and to bring forward additional Schemes recommended by the Future of Media Commission.

Throughout the development of these schemes, my officials and I have engaged extensively with Coimisiún na Meán and with radio broadcasters and all stakeholders, noting also that these Schemes have been developed on a pilot basis and their operation will provide important feedback for future Schemes. I met with the IBI on 31 May 2024 to discuss matters raised by their members and my officials have had numerous other meetings with the IBI and with other stakeholders.

I am acutely aware of and understand the concerns raised in relation to the need to support the provision of existing as well as additional news and current affairs content. However, these schemes were subject to State Aid review by the European Commission which places limits on the types of funding that can be made available. My officials are, however, continuing to engage with the IBI and will have regard to the issues raised in the development of future Schemes, seeking to strike a balance between the needs of the independent radio sector, the concerns of other stakeholders including local and regional newspapers, and relevant State Aid requirements.

In line with another of the FOMC's recommendations, it is also the intention to amend the Broadcasting Act to allow news and current affairs to be eligible for funding under the Sound & Vision scheme which is administered by Coimisiún na Meán and funded by the licence fee and Exchequer funding. Under the current legislation and the general exemption for the Scheme from State Aid rules by the European Commission, news and current affairs programming cannot currently be supported through Sound and Vision. Legislative change and the approval of the European Commission from a State Aid perspective is required to enable this and work is currently underway in this regard. This will provide another important avenue for funding in respect of news and current affairs for independent broadcasters.

These new provisions are in addition to supports already provided to the independent media sector:

• In 2023, €16.7m in funding was awarded to applicants of the Sound and Vision scheme, providing support to a range of independent producers, commercial radio and community broadcasters. This included an additional €6m of Exchequer funding which I secured, enabling the expansion of the funding rounds and a dedicated €2.4m independent commercial radio round.
• The radio sector also received significant funding from other Sound and Vision rounds announced in 2023. 35 projects received a total of €543,000 from announcements made last August, while another 67 radio projects received €636,000 from Round 47 which was announced in April 2023.
• In April 2024, Coimisiún na Meán announced the allocation of €8.6m of Sound and Vision funding for broadcasters and independent producers. Round 51 provided over €1.1m for 38 radio projects and Round 52 allocated over €700k to the community radio sector.
• In September 2024, Coimisiún na Meán announced the largest single funding round of the Sound and Vision scheme to date after I secured an additional €2m of Exchequer funding for Round 53 of the scheme. Over €10.1m in funding has been allocated for Round 53, which will provide funding of over €1.1 million to 56 radio projects. 39 of these will be broadcast on independent commercial radio stations and includes an allocation of €300,000 to a collective application from IBI on behalf of 16 independent commercial radio stations for a second series of ‘Ours to Protect’.
• A further 2 rounds of Sound & Vision will operate this year. Applications to Round 54 of the Scheme, for which I secured €2m of Exchequer funding, closed on 8^th August and are currently being assessed. Round 55 of the Scheme open in October for broadcasters and independent producers, including radio. This round closes at noon on?Thursday, 28?November 2024.?Funding decisions are envisaged to be available by late February 2025.