I thank the Deputy. The Government’s digital connectivity strategy, DCS, aims to have all Irish households and businesses covered by a gigabit network by 2028. A fibre network is faster, consumes less energy and is more reliable than a copper network, and the transition away from legacy copper infrastructure to modern fibre is consistent with that objective. In this regard, the Department supports the prioritisation of a managed transition from copper to fibre-based broadband. The widespread deployment of fibre inf…

I do not disagree with the Deputy at all. He gave a good synopsis there as to why the investment in rural broadband is so important. I do not know whether any political party bar my own at the time actually advocated for it, but it has been transformative. I see it in my own home where the broadband that I have now in a rural location with fibre connectivity is a lot faster than in my constituency office and is nearly faster than what we have here in Leinster House. That has been transformative. When I first came i…

I agree with the Deputy. A lot of parallels can been drawn from this with regard to when the former Minister, Pat Rabbitte, initiated the Saorview switch-over. When Saorview was being switched over, a large amount of investment was put into public awareness and many vulnerable people, especially the elderly, received assistance to make sure they were not left behind. This is being discussed at EU Council level. We are far more progressed than a lot of our colleagues in the European Union thanks in no small way to N…

I thank the Deputy for raising this question and for his ongoing support for the basic income. In February, I announced that the Government had agreed to a successor scheme to the basic income for the arts pilot. Guidelines for the new scheme were published by my Department on 1 April. The applications portal opened on 15 April and will remain open until 12 May, which is an important date given the fact we are still in the middle of that application process. The BIA will provide 2,000 artists with a weekly payment …

I agree with the Deputy. If anyone who has experienced any difficulties and has contacted the Deputy, I encourage him to pass any specifics on to me. We want to try to make it work. It is in our interest that we get the maximum number of eligible applicants because we are only around the corner from the next round of negotiations on public expenditure for the next budget. The success or otherwise of this scheme will be demonstrated not just in relation to the output of the artists but also through the number of eli…

That is very helpful and I will certainly relay that back to the team in the Department to see if we can adjust the home page to address the points the Deputy has made. I am not sure whether that is possible or not but we will certainly try. If there are people who have nothing better to do at 9.05 a.m. than listen to the Deputy and I having a chat in the Dáil and who have specific problems accessing the service, I encourage them to contact the Department. We do not want to leave people behind. I do not want a situ…

I ask the Deputy to bear with me. Our bona fides in this have been well established and we have had a very good engagement with the Opposition. Once 12 May has passed, and once I have a full read-out of the number of applicants, which I will publish, I will come back to the Deputy.

A diverse, independent and trustworthy media sector, operating in line with appropriate media codes and rules, plays an important role in supporting our democracy, fostering our national identity, heritage and culture, and ensuring access to free and impartial news and current affairs. However, it is equally important that any supervision or regulation of the sector is also independent. As such, the independence of Coimisiún na Meán is provided for under section 10 of the Broadcasting Act 2009, as amended. There is…

I have already outlined what I have been doing. The Deputy cannot have her cake and eat it. It is not that long ago that her party and the party that sits beside it were very quick out of the traps, when I asked a question about Coimisiún na Meán, to remind me of my role under the Broadcasting Act and the independence of Coimisiún na Meán. The Deputy cannot have her cake and eat it. She cannot come in here one day and tell me to keep my nose out of Coimisiún na Meán and the second day come in here and tell me to te…

Again, nice try. The Deputy fails to recognise one fact, and I think she was connected previously to the tech sector so she will know the role that Coimisiún na Meán has played with regard to the tech sector. Only this week Coimisiún na Meán has announced further investigations into the tech sector. The Deputy is right: this Government has been in office for a long time. It has been in office thanks to the votes of the people of the country. We have won successive elections. We have put together programmes for Gove…

-----with the relevant stakeholders.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important question. The issues of restitution and repatriation are complex and sensitive matters which have significant impacts on families and communities of origin, as well as more broadly on the cultural landscape. I am aware of the legislation recently passed by the French National Assembly which creates a legal framework for the return of cultural objects taken from former colonies, replacing the previous requirement for separate, case-by-case legislation for restitution. In…

It is expected shortly. As I said in my reply, I will bring the report to the Government and then publish it. I do not disagree with anything the Deputy has said. Restitution cannot be a one-way street. We need to see if there is anything in Irish institutions that is connected to, funded by or associated with colonial plundering. I do not disagree with that term. I believe the Deputy is being very mild-mannered in using it. We cannot ask others to do as we say and not to do as we do. In a similar way, if other cou…

His methodologies may have been a bit different and might be a bit unorthodox for a Deputy of Dáil Éireann to be advocating. However, I do not disagree with the sentiment. If there are materials in other museums, particularly in countries that were formerly colonial powerhouses, including the one that occupied this State, in the modern world of 2026 there is a compulsion on them to look into their hearts and recognise that this stuff was taken against the will of the people from whom it was taken and that it really…

I measc na n-aidhmeanna atá ag RTÉ agus ag TG4 is ea go gcuirfeadh an dá chraoltóir seirbhíse poiblí a gcuid seirbhísí ar fáil, a mhéid agus is féidir é, don phobal uile ar oileán uile na hÉireann. Tá RTÉ agus TG4 araon ar fáil i dTuaisceart Eireann ar an ardán Freeview, chomh maith le hardáin síntiúis eile, ach is féidir bac a chur ar ábhair áirithe ar bhonn cearta. De réir mar a thuigim, nuair a cheannaíonn an dá stáisiún cearta ar ábhar craoltóireacht, ar nós imeachtaí spóirt, déanann siad iarracht cearta a chea…

Tuigim cé chomh tábhachtach is atá an clár "Bluey", an leaid gorm sin as an Astráil, don lucht féachana Béarla agus Gaeilge araon. Tá an clár tábhachtach do na gasúir óga agus iad sa bhaile. Ní hamháin go bhfuil sé tábhachtach do na gasúir, ach tá sé tábhachtach do na tuismitheoirí freisin. Is ceist thábhachtach í. Ní hamháin go mbaineann an cheist seo leis an gclár "Bluey" agus na cláir eile a chraoltar do na gasúir óga, ach baineann sí le stádas na teanga i dTuaisceart Éireann. Leagadh amach i gComhaontú Aoine an…

B’fhéidir gur ceist í seo don Roinn gnóthaí eachtracha nó Roinn an Taoisigh mar tá sí an-tábhachtach. Mar atá leagtha amach i gComhaontú Aoine an Chéasta, comhaontaíodh go mbeadh TG4 ar fáil chomh forleathan agus ab fhéidir ar fud Thuaisceart Éireann. Tá stádas TG4 agus stádas tábhachtach na Gaeilge leagtha amach cheana féin. Tá a fhios ag an Teachta na deacrachtaí a bhí agam maidir le Foras na Gaeilge nuair a bhí mé i m’Aire Stáit le freagrachtaí don Ghaeilge agus do na Gaeltachtaí. Tuigim cé chomh tábhachtach is …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht an ábhair tábhachtaigh seo a chur os comhair na Dála ar maidin. Ireland's online safety framework includes the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, the EU Digital Services Act and the online safety code. That code requires that designated platforms restrict access to certain categories of content that could cause harm, including to children. Those include cyberbullying and promoting eating disorders, dangerous challenges, self-harm and suicide. The code came into ful…

To go back to a previous question, Coimisiún na Meán is self-financed in terms of the regulation. Regulation costs money and that is why levies are imposed. People do not like that, and the previous Deputy said she did not like it. That is a separate issue, however. I am a parent as well and I am not happy with what is happening, particularly at EU level. This issue was raised at the EU Council meeting last week, and there was a shift in attitude on it. At the previous EU Council meeting, there was a view that the …

I agree entirely with the Deputy. For anyone who did not hear it, I restate that if a common approach is not possible at EU level, I will seek Government approval to take action at a national level. That is not mañana. If I feel, having taken over the Chair of the Presidency, that this is something the Commission or a significant blocking minority is resisting, we will go it alone like France, Spain, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and a number of other countries have done. The sad reality is that the Commission and th…