We in Sinn Féin see no reason to oppose this Bill. We look forward to its progression to Committee Stage. It would address many of the issues this party has raised over the years regarding media ownership and independence. We may seek to submit amendments on matters on which we believe the Bill is not strong enough, but I am sure engagement on that would be welcomed. The parent legislation of the Bill we are discussing today is the European Media Freedom Act. Were it not for the EU pushing this legislation, the Government would be happy to continue sitting on its hands. The positive is that this Bill will put more tools in Coimisiún na Meán's toolkit. I hope it will choose to utilise these tools when necessary and not refer cases back to the EU to investigate, as it has done with X and Grok, rather than using the measures provided for nationally under the recent online safety framework. Laws, rules and regulations are worthless unless they are enforced by the appropriate statutory body. I think we would all agree there is no point in giving somebody a new car unless they are going to drive it. Almost ten years ago, Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan commissioned a report on the concentration of media ownership in Ireland, highlighting the high risk associated with Irish media ownership due to the influence of figures like Denis O'Brien. That report said that Ireland has one of the most concentrated media markets of any democracy and that "It is now imperative that urgent action is taken, and seen to be taken, to reassure journalists, media organisations and the wider public". This Government, which has been in power in one form or another since 2011, has done little to address this. It was flagged back then that having such a high concentration of media ownership in the Irish market threatens media plurality and undermines the media's ability to perform its watchdog function. That it is why it is important that we move this Bill along and also try to strengthen it in areas where it may be lacking, perhaps through provisions allowing existing monopolies to be broken up. I hope that, with this legislation, we will stave off a Rupert Murdoch-type media dominance subsuming the Irish market. His politically right wing-leaning global media empire made him a kingmaker from the US to the UK. To quote a CNN article published when he was stepping down in 2023: Through a hazardous cocktail of mis- and disinformation, conspiracy theories, and outright propaganda, Murdoch profited off of fear and division with little apparent regard for warping the public discourse, disfiguring American politics, and imperiling Western democracy. That is what we must guard against. That is why it is essential we have powers here in Ireland to guard against that type of monopoly. There are powers here that should be utilised. We need not refer everything to the EU when complex decisions arise in the future. All of those provisions of Article 22 of the European Media Freedom Act, which this Bill will give full effect to, relating to media mergers and the assessment of media market concentration are very welcome. The 2016 report on the concentration of media ownership in Ireland and more recent reports on media ownership in Ireland all highlight the same issues. A report on high ownership concentration posing significant risks to pluralism states that our market is dominated by State-owned RTÉ on radio and TV, by Mediahuis in print and by Bauer Media in commercial radio, with significant foreign ownership. Key concerns include the lack of specific statutory ownership limits and high cross-media consolidation. The ownership of print media is flagged as being very high. Denis O'Brien sold Independent News and Media to Mediahuis in 2019. Of the top four print groups, Mediahuis has 38% of the readership, the Irish Times Group has 26%, Reach plc has 15% and News Corp has 12%. Together, they control 91% of the national print audience. The concentration in radio is flagged as high, that in media as medium to high and that in online media as concentrated. I would like to see an assessment of our current media companies and what may be considered an existing monopoly and to examine how Coimisiún na Meán deals with it. The need for this will be known when Coimisiún na Meán develops a national media ownership database, as it is required to do under this Bill. The Bill will also impose transparency on public authorities and entities. They will be obliged to publish information on the total amount spent on advertising and the amount spent with individual media providers. I sincerely welcome this. State advertising in many small media outlets and regional newspapers during the Covid pandemic shutdown was helpful but in no way did it cover their losses. It may not have gone far enough in that time of crisis but at least some effort was made and that is to be acknowledged. Some political parties have been caught out misusing State advertising. In 2018, the new Government strategic communications unit paid for adverts to promote the Project Ireland 2040 national development plan. This was widely criticised. The Times in the UK reported that the editors of several regional newspapers were told to present the advertorials like news content. These ads often featured TDs and councillors. The Government delayed answering questions asked under the Freedom of Information Act for several weeks before releasing the documents on the day of the referendum to repeal the eighth amendment, hoping to bury the news. We in Sinn Féin tabled a Private Member's motion seeking the immediate disbandment of the SCU, this so-called spin unit. This controversy caused the Government's strategic communications unit to be disbanded mere months after it was established. We can therefore see why some parties have been reticent to introduce legislation in this House to tackle the issue without EU direction. It is welcome that Coimisiún na Meán will now have responsibility in this area but, as I said earlier, I hope it makes use of the new tools in its toolkit. The Bill's focus on audience measurement systems with a view to improving transparency and reliability is welcome. This will also be worth scrutinising further on Committee Stage. The requirement for Coimisiún na Meán to co-operate and to encourage the adoption of codes of conduct by industry to promote transparency around audience measurement systems may not provide the teeth required to ensure true accuracy and transparency. I look forward to looking at this Bill further on Committee State. I welcome the fact that areas of concern regarding media ownership concentration flagged by Sinn Féin over a decade ago will now be legislated for. It is well past time.

Sentiment score: 0.18