Journalism schemes

The Journalism Schemes provide funding to supplement and enhance coverage of local authorities and district and circuit court hearings. These have been established following a recommendation from the Report of the Future of Media Commission. The Schemes will support both the media sector and high-quality accessible public interest journalism across Ireland. 

Expressions of Interest for Expert Assessors

Coimisiún na Meán is seeking, on an ongoing basis, to engage suitably experienced candidates to act as Expert Assessors to assess grant applications for the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme (LDRS) and Courts Reporting Scheme (CRS), and for the upcoming Digital Transformation and News Reporting Schemes.

News Reporting Scheme

The key objective of this Scheme is to support and enhance the vital role of media service providers in reporting on news matters that are not substantially provided for at present, or are at risk of under-provision.

Status: Round 1 is now open.

Local Democracy Reporting Scheme

The key objective of this Scheme is to ensure that local media contains quality reporting on public institutions and authorities, where issues of importance to citizens are considered. 

Status: Round 2 is now open.

Courts Reporting Scheme

The key objective of this Scheme is to support and enhance the vital role of media service providers in reporting by skilled journalists on court proceedings at a local and regional level.

Status: Round 2 is now open.

Current funding rounds

€10 million has been allocated for the Journalism Schemes in 2025 thanks to funding allocated by the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan, TD. This funding covers the grants and the administration costs of the Scheme.

Recent funding decisions:

More information