Indefinite postponement of streaming levy
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Patrick O’Donovan is to indefinitely postpone the introduction of a levy on streaming companies, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and others.
The cabinet met on Tuesday and approved the Revised General Scheme of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill designed to “enhance value-for-money, accountability, and transparency in RTÉ and TG4 and will also provide greater funding for independent producers.”
The Bill will see the following six amendments:
1. Ensure that the imposition of a content production levy, which could impose costs on Irish consumers, is subject to Ministerial decision.
2. RTÉ to be required by law to spend at least 25% of its public funding on content commissioned from the independent production sector and allow Coimisiún na Meán to increase this
percentage, with Ministerial agreement, in the context of the 3-year reviews of the adequacy of public funding.
3. Extend media codes, duties and rules to all content published by RTÉ and TG4.
4. Tighter controls of RTÉ and TG4’s Annual Performance Commitments by Coimisiún na Meán, starting in 2026.
5. Provide for the anonymised disclosure by RTÉ and TG4 of employee benefits and contractors’ remuneration.
6. Exclude RTÉ and TG4 from applying for direct public funding under the Media Fund, given that they are already in receipt of public funding to fulfil their statutory public service objects.
Laois Fine Gael TD William Aird welcomed the news of the streaming levy postponement, saying: “People in County Laois are working hard enough and paying for a range of bills already and any levy on these companies would end up being passed on through a hike in their subscriptions.”
Deputy Aird said the amendments “added layer of protection for the Irish consumer.”
Free schoolbooks for Laois students under Free Education Scheme expansion
Nearly one million students in primary, special and post-primary schools across Ireland will be provided with free schoolbooks as a result of the Free Education Scheme expansion.
Schoolbooks, workbooks and copybooks will be provided directly to all pupils by schools, who will also be provided with “sufficient funding” to cover the costs of supplying these books.
Deputy Aird said the expansion “will ease some of the financial pressures facing families in County Laois during the back-to-school period.
“In particular, this is a major support for parents of children with special educational needs, in mainstream, special classes, or special schools.”
National Development Plan up for review
The Government is preparing a review of the National Development Plan (NDP) where individual departments will be asked with identifying their priority programmes.
€165 billion is available for investment over the next five years under the NDP.
A public consultation process will also be launched, offering stakeholders and members of the public the chance to make submissions.
The review will cover all public capital investment up to 2035 including exchequer funds, the Apple funds, infrastructure, climate and nature, and AIB share sales.
Deputy Willie Aird welcomed the decision, which he called a “timely move to ensure we are investing in the right infrastructure for County Laois,” adding that the review will allows the Government to “prioritise the delivery of critical infrastructure across housing, energy, transport and digital services.”
“A particular focus will be on increasing investment to support housing delivery and competitiveness by prioritising infrastructure such as energy grid capacity, water supply, transport connectivity and digital health systems,” Deputy Aird said.
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