Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 November 2015
559. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the support and funding his Department provides for community radio; his views on whether it offers a vital service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38966/15]
View answerI recognise that many local and community radio stations, both rural and urban, are of great benefit to the communities they serve and provide additional value to them, most particularly in the area of local reporting.
In terms of funding for community broadcasters, a proportion of the television licence fee monies are made available to commercial and community broadcasters through the Broadcasting Funding Scheme, as provided for under Part 10 of the Broadcasting Act 2009. The purpose of this Scheme, which covers both radio and television, is to encourage the inclusion of additional programming of a particular character in broadcasters programme schedules. The Scheme is open to independent producers and all ‘free to air’ commercial, community and public service broadcasters. It is funded by way of a payment of 7% of net licence fee receipts, which is paid to the BAI in respect of this Scheme. This amount was increased from 5% to 7% under the Broadcasting Act 2009.
Community Broadcasters also have access to the Community Broadcasting Support Scheme which was recently launched by the BAI. This scheme has a total available fund of €30,000 for 2015 and is open to all fully licenced Community and Community of Interest TV and radio stations throughout the country. This scheme is specifically designed to offer funding support to enable them to further advance from an organisational development perspective, e.g. staff training and capacity development.
Between 2010 and 2014, the community radio sector received €3.79 million from the Sound and Vision II scheme to produce 485 various programmes such as documentaries, sports, arts, music and drama.
The current scheme, Sound & Vision III, was launched in February 2015 and is expected to have in the region of €70m in total funding available to radio and television. As one of its specific objectives is to develop local and community broadcasting, I fully expect that community radio will continue to benefit from funding under this scheme.
