Written Answers Nos. 208-213
208. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education whether parental alienation, a highly contested condition, being used as a means to support one or other side in family law cases, is also being referred to where choice of second level school has not been agreed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54410/23]
View answerIn relation to school admissions, it is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998 and the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018.
It is appreciated that practical difficulties can arise where family circumstances vary and differ, however, the Department's approach to the issue of the rights of separated parents to involvement in their children's education is that the rights of both parents should be respected. A qualification to that approach would arise where the best interest of the child required a different approach.
Schools must exercise their own judgment in implementing their enrolment policies and what is appropriate in each individual case, while respecting any order made by the Court in relation to the custody and welfare of the child which is known to or made known to the school.
209. Deputy Imelda Munster asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if she will provide an update on the progress of the working group to develop a National Disinformation Strategy; the expected date for their final report; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54261/23]
View answerThe independently chaired Working Group tasked with developing the National Counter Disinformation Strategy was established in February 2023, and to date, has met on ten occasions. Minutes of their meetings, along with other relevant documents, are published regularly on a dedicated Government webpage. www.gov.ie/en/publication/04f9e-national-counter-disinformation-strategy-working-group/
An online written public consultation process ran from 25 September to 20 October and a stakeholder consultation event was held on 29 November. It is hoped to finalise and publish a draft Strategy in Q1 2024.
210. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if the inequalities of media support (details supplied) will be addressed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54281/23]
View answerA strong and independent media sector is vitally important to our democracy and our society. Within this, radio continues to play a key role, evidenced by the latest JNLR report showing 80% of adults in Ireland tuning in daily. Radio news is a vital and trusted source of information for the public, particularly for local and regional services. The European Broadcasting Union found that it was the most trusted media across many European countries, including Ireland.
Given the importance of the radio sector, at my request Coimisiún na Meán have prepared a Report into the Economic Viability of the Commercial Radio Sector. The report was prepared with a view to:
• inform deliberations on any possible short-term measures that could support the sector;
• gaining an understanding of the dynamics of the current economic environment and its impact on the viability of the sector here;
• examine specific pressures identified in the context of underlying structural factors in the sector, including ownership structures; and,
• inform deliberations by Coimisiún na Meán on the structure of the levy or levies it is expected to introduce in 2024.
I have recently considered the report, and welcome the insights it provides into the sector, and the challenges and opportunities which it identifies. The report contains recommendations which An Coimisiún, as independent regulator, will need to consider further. It would not be appropriate for me to set out any detail on these recommendations until such time as An Coimisiún has undertaken this further consideration, and arranged for publication of the report.
With regard to any possible action regarding the levy payable to Coimisiún na Meán by radio stations in respect of meeting the costs of regulation, this is purely a matter for An Coimisiún and given their statutory independence, I have no role in relation to the levy. I do understand that An Coimisiún, given its sectoral development role, is acutely aware of the issues which the sector is facing.
The Deputy will be aware that the Future of Media Commission recommended introducing a new platform-neutral Media Fund which will provide supports to the wider media sector. Government accepted this proposal, and priority is being given to the development of a Local Democracy Reporting Scheme and a Courts Reporting Scheme for which I secured €6m in Budget 2024. These new schemes will be open to the radio sector, and will support news coverage at local, regional and national levels. A further Media Fund scheme to support News Reporting, will be developed by Coimisiún na Meán in due course as also recommended by the Future of Media commission.
Existing supports for the radio sector have been provided through the Sound and Vision Scheme which is administered by Coimisiún na Meán. Under the current legislation and 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. However, the Future of Media Commission recommended that this be reviewed, and this will be done next year.
In the meantime, this year I provided additional Exchequer funding for a special radio sector round of Sound and Vision which provided €2.4m in supports. The radio sector also received significant funding from other Sound and Vision rounds announced this year. 35 projects received a total of €543,000 from announcements made in August, while another 67 radio projects received €636,000 from Round 47 which was announced last April. The next round of funding is currently open for applicants and will again provide further supports to the radio sector in creating quality content for Irish audiences right throughout the country.
211. Deputy Chris Andrews asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to provide an update on a club’s (details supplied) sports capital grant; and when the club can expect to receive a decision on its application. [54384/23]
View answerThe Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP) is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sports and recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. Over 13,000 projects have now benefited from sports capital funding since 1998 bringing the total allocations in that time to over €1.15 billion. The Programme for Government commits to continuing the SCEP and to prioritising investment in disadvantaged areas.
The latest round of the SCEP (2023) closed for applications on Friday 8 September. A preliminary examination of the submitted applications demonstrates that the Programme has again generated a very large number of applications, including one from the organisation to which the Deputy refers, and it is evident that the total number will exceed the previous record of 3,106 applications submitted under the last (2020) round.
Work is now underway on finalising the "Scoring Assessment and Assessment Manual" for the 2023 round and I hope to have this published shortly. Simultaneously, I also plan to publish the full list of all applications received by county including the relevant sport type for each application received. Once these documents are published, the detailed assessment work can commence. In this regard, it is planned to assess the "equipment-only" applications first and announce these grants in the coming months. Work will then commence on assessing the capital applications with the allocations likely to be announced later in 2024.
212. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to provide a comprehensive overview of funding stream available to sports clubs for capital, current and ad hoc expenditure; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54391/23]
View answerThe Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP) is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sports and recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. Over 13,000 projects have now benefited from sports capital funding since 1998 bringing the total allocations in that time to over €1.15 billion. The Programme for Government commits to continuing the SCEP and to prioritising investment in disadvantaged areas.
The latest round of the SCEP (2023) closed for applications on Friday 8 September. A preliminary examination of the submitted applications demonstrates that the Programme has again generated a very large number of applications and it is evident that the total number will exceed the previous record of 3,106 applications submitted under the last (2020) round.
Work is now underway on finalising the "Scoring Assessment and Assessment Manual" for the 2023 round and I hope to have this published shortly. Simultaneously, I also plan to publish the full list of all applications received by county including the relevant sport type for each application received. Once these documents are published, the detailed assessment work can commence. In this regard, it is planned to assess the "equipment-only" applications first and announce these grants in the coming months. Work will then commence on assessing the capital applications with the allocations likely to be announced later in 2024.
Separately, the National Sports Policy, which was published in 2018, provided for the establishment of a Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The first call for proposals under the LSSIF closed in 2019 with applications confined to local authorities and National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of Sport. All applications were assessed in accordance with the published Evaluation Procedures and Guidelines and the first allocations were announced in January 2020.
Minister Martin and I recently announced additional funding amounts to a total of €37.6 million, with 27 existing LSSIF projects benefitting, bringing the total awarded to date to Large Scale Sport Infrastructure funded projects to €124 million. The additional funding for projects is being provided, in response to delays experienced by grantees arising from the pandemic and construction inflation, following engagement with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.
It was also confirmed recently that a new round of the Large-Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund will open for applications in the first half of 2024, with the dates, terms and conditions to be published on the Department’s website in due course.
213. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the additional measures that will be introduced to deal with the spread of misinformation on social media platforms; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54401/23]
View answerIn terms of the measures to address misinformation and disinformation, the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act was passed in December 2022 and provided for the establishment of Coimisiún na Meán, Ireland’s new online safety and media regulator. It is An Coimisiún that will be addressing online safety, including harmful online content like disinformation and misinformation. An Coimisiún is independent in the exercise of its functions.
Both disinformation and misinformation are complex issues which can also sometimes encompass extremist hate speech, threats or incitement to violence. In that context, the horrifying events of 23 November are of key relevance. Coimisiún na Meán engaged with all the platforms immediately in the wake of the incident. An Coimisiún continues to advise people to report extremist hate speech or threats or incitement to violence content to the platforms or to An Garda Síochána. It remains the role of An Garda Síochána to investigate suspected criminal activity.
An Coimisiún was formally established in March 2023 with the commencement of the Act. As provided for under the OSMR Act, Coimisiún na Meán are developing their first binding online safety code. The code which will set out rules for how designated online services deal with defined categories of harmful online content, including extremist content like hate speech, threats and incitement to violence. It expects to adopt this code in 2024 following a stakeholder consultation on a draft which will begin in the coming days.
Failure to comply with an online safety code can lead to the imposition of significant financial sanctions of up to €20 million or 10% of turnover and continued non-compliance can lead to criminal penalties.
Alongside the OSMR Act, since August 2023, the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) Digital Services Act applies to very large online platforms. It will apply to all platforms from February 2024. Under the DSA, the European Commission and Coimisiún na Meán (as Digital Services Coordinator) share responsibility for supervising the Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs). Very large platforms have extra obligations under the DSA, for example in terms of having to do risk assessments and take mitigation measures in respect of harmful content such as disinformation and their risk assessment and mitigation plans are currently being assessed by the European Commission. On 5 December, the Government published the Digital Services Bill to provide for the EU Digital Services Act in Ireland’s national law and to formally designate Coimisiún na Meán as Digital Services Co-ordinator.
Finally, in order to address the spread with disinformation, there is a need for co-ordination of a range of existing and new initiatives. This was recognised in the Future of Media Commission report which recommended a national counter disinformation strategy. In fulfilment of that recommendation, an independently chaired working group was established in February 2023 to draft a strategy which aims to coordinate national efforts to combat disinformation and provide a joined-up approach. The Group has met regularly since establishment, held an online public consultation and a stakeholder consultation forum and aims to publish the strategy in Q1 2024.
