Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022
421. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if she will provide an update on the Future of Media Commission report; if the report has been completed and submitted to her Department and the Government; when it is planned to consider and publish this report; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [63439/21]
View answerThe Future of Media Commission, chaired by Professor Brian MacCraith, held its inaugural meeting on 29 October 2020. It was tasked with considering the future of print, broadcast, and online media in a platform agnostic fashion.
The Commission engaged comprehensively with stakeholders, including broadcasters, journalists, publishers, regional media and the wider public. The first phase of the Future of Media Commission public consultation, which ran from December 12th 2020 to January 8th 2021, resulted in over 800 written submissions from stakeholder groups and the general public on a wide range of themes.
At the end of January 2021, the Commission began a series of thematic dialogues through online webinars in which panels of experts explored key themes in more depth and answered follow-up questions from the virtual audience and the Commission members. These dialogues fed into the subsequent analysis and recommendations of the Commission.
The work of the Future of Media Commission has now been completed and their report has been submitted to An Taoiseach and myself for consideration. It will provide a basis for media and broadcasting policy in the coming years and An Taoiseach and I are carefully considering the contents of the wide-ranging report.
Following this, the report will be brought to Cabinet for further consideration and agreement on the next steps. The report will not be published prior to any consideration of its contents by Government.
