FAQS

Coimisiún na Meán is Ireland’s media commission. Our role is to ensure and maintain a thriving and diverse media landscape in Ireland that facilitates a mix of voices, opinions and sources of news and current affairs, as well as a safe online environment.

Our responsibilities are to:

• Oversee the funding of and support the development of the wider media sector in Ireland.
• Oversee the regulation of broadcasting and video-on-demand services.
• Develop and enforce the Irish regulatory regime for online safety.

Coimisiún na Meán is led by the Executive Chairperson, and currently includes an Online Safety Commissioner, a Media Development Commissioner, and a Broadcasting Commissioner.

Once we have established the new online safety regulatory regime codes and rules for online safety, Coimisiún na Meán will also handle individual complaints in relation to these codes.

Coimisiún na Meán will also be responsible for enforcing the Digital Services Act, once that legislation has been given effect in Irish law. We will also be responsible for enforcing a number of elements of the EU Terrorist Content Online Regulation.

We do not regulate:

• Data protection.
• Cybersecurity.
• Subscriptions to media services.
• Broadband services.
• Online gambling providers.
• Print media.
• Consumer protection / rights.
• End users of online services.

We do not currently investigate individual complaints in relation to online safety.

Coimisiún na Meán is run by a team of commissioners, led by an executive chair.

The ultimate decision-makers in Coimisiún na Meán are the team of Commissioners. Coimisiún na Meán is an independent public body. There are several mechanisms for accountability. We can be asked to appear before committees of the Oireachtas to discuss our work. We are required to provide strategy statements, annual work programmes and annual reports to the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and we will also make these public. We will publish our decisions and the reasons for them, and our decisions can be challenged in the courts. Our accounts are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General and we can be questioned by the Public Accounts Committee about our use of resources.

Coimisiún na Meán currently has a staff of 40 whole time equivalents. We have been authorised to recruit a further 120 staff throughout 2023 to enable us to fulfil our remit during our start-up phase.

The majority of current staff transitioned from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. They have extensive experience in broadcasting regulation and supporting the development of media. This includes licensing broadcasters, developing codes for them to follow, handling complaints about TV and radio programmes, and promoting diversity and plurality in the media. There are also staff with experience of corporate governance, finance, HR, engineering and IT. Coimisiún na Meán will be recruiting staff with experience of the way digital platforms and services operate and of the impact that harmful content can have on users, such as children and other vulnerable individuals.

Over the course of this year, we will be developing our operating strategy and strategic workforce plan. This will inform the ultimate staffing levels and range of skillsets required for Coimisiún na Meán. Our initial phase of recruitment will target the first 120 additional staff.

The BAI has assisted the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in the arrangements for the establishment and operationalisation of Coimisiún na Meán.

Over the next number of weeks, we will be defining our work plan for the start-up phase, which will last until February 2024 (which is when the Digital Services Act is expected to enter into force). Over the coming weeks, we will be finalising the plan, including our resourcing approach, which will include a mix of former BAI staff, new recruits, advisors, and consultants. We intend to publish a summary of the Year 1 work plan when it is ready.

We will monitor compliance with the regulatory obligations and can sanction those who fail to comply. This includes imposing financial sanctions on providers of broadcasting and on-demand audio-visual media services and designated online services. Senior managers of regulated entities may also be prosecuted for certain offences.

For 2023, Coimisiún na Meán’s running costs will be funded through a levy on providers of broadcasting services and by a subvention from Government funds amounting to €10.5 million. In future years, Coimisiún na Meán will also impose levies on the on demand and online service providers that it regulates.

Coimisiún na Meán’s funding schemes to support the development of the media sector are funded by a proportion of the TV licence fee, supplemented by Government funding for schemes. In future Coimisiún na Meán will also be able to impose a levy on providers of audiovisual media services to fund a scheme to support the production of European works.

Our remit is to regulate broadcasters, on demand providers, and online platforms that are established in Ireland in respect of the services they provide in Ireland and throughout Europe.

Providers established in other EU countries are regulated in the country where they are established in respect of the services they provide throughout Europe, including Ireland.

The European Commission also has a role in relation to very large online platforms and search engines (those that have over 45 million active monthly users in the EU). Many of these large providers are established in Ireland.

Coimisiún na Meán will work closely with the European Commission and with our counterparts in other EU countries to ensure the safety of users in Ireland and across Europe.

We will develop and maintain a register of companies that we regulate, which will be available on our website.

A key priority for Coimisiún na Meán will be the development of codes and guidelines. These govern the standards and practices of broadcasters, providers of on-demand audio-visual media services and providers of designated online services that facilitate user-generated content.

Codes and guidelines will be developed to support statutory objectives such as balance in broadcast news reporting, and the protection of users – especially children – from harmful online content.

Codes and guidelines will be developed by Coimisiún na Meán via research and in consultation with relevant experts, industry, civil society and the general public. We will use forums, advisory committees, research and public consultation where appropriate.

Codes and guidelines will be evidence-based and balanced.

Broadcasting codes and rules developed by the BAI will remain in place until they are amended or revoked by Coimisiún na Meán.

Online safety codes are targeted at particular types of harmful content set out in legislation. Examples include intimate images shared without consent, content that incites racial and other types of hatred, content that is harmful for children, cyberbullying, and content that encourages eating disorders, suicide, or self-harm.

Online safety codes can set standards for how providers minimise the availability of harmful content and minimise the risks that it poses. We will be considering a range of obligations that might include matters such as how providers handle complaints about harmful content, how they protect children from age-inappropriate content and how they minimise the number of people exposed to harmful content.

Minors:

Protecting minors from harmful content is extremely high on our agenda and will play a key part in Coimisiún na Meán’s online safety codes.

Where potentially harmful content originating from a service established in another EU member state is brought to our attention, we can ask the regulator in that country to act.

Potentially harmful content that originates from a service outside the EU is addressed in a co-ordinated fashion with our European colleagues and the European Commission.

Updates to the regulation of television broadcasting and video on-demand services bring video on-demand services established in Ireland under statutory regulation. Like broadcasters, providers of such services will be subject to binding codes and rules, including in relation to advertising, accessibility and impartiality in news and current affairs.

Coimisiún na Meán is responsible for regulating on-demand audiovisual media services established in Ireland. We will develop and maintain a register of companies that we regulate, which will be available on our website.

Our online safety codes will apply to services established in Ireland.

Where potentially harmful content originating from a service established in another EU member state is brought to our attention, we can ask the regulator in that country to act.

Potentially harmful content that originates from a service established outside the EU is addressed in a co-ordinated fashion with our European colleagues and the European Commission.