Coimisiún na Meán has today (29.01.26) announced more than €15 million in funding for media organisations across Ireland, to support high-quality journalism and news and current affairs content, and to support digital upskilling and the significant modernisation of equipment and technology, to allow the sector to adapt and grow in an increasingly digital world. The funding will be delivered via five separate schemes.
Rónán Ó Domhnaill, Media Development Commissioner with Coimisiún na Meán said: “Coimisiún na Meán ensures that our media landscape supports democratic values, underpins civic discourse, and reduces the impact of disinformation. To do that, we need to support sustainable high-quality journalism and today’s announcement of substantial funding across the sector stands as evidence of our dedication to this goal and I would like to thank Minister Patrick O’Donovan for his continued support of our media development activities.
“The aim of our journalism schemes is to support the creation of accessible high-quality public interest news and current affairs content in both Irish and English by skilled journalists. We believe that, in conjunction with the new Digital Transformation Scheme, these platform-neutral schemes will enhance the resilience of media organisations, equipping them with the tools and resources they need to thrive in an increasingly challenging sector. In turn, this will improve citizens’ access to trusted quality information on news and current affairs at home and abroad, ensuring a media-literate population which will strengthen our country against the new digital challenges facing our democracy.”
Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan TD said: “I warmly welcome this allocation by Coimisiún na Meán. Supporting public interest journalism and the provision of public service content by media outlets at local, regional and national level will help to ensure that our media continues to support public engagement and democratic discourse. The upskilling of staff within the sector, along with the modernisation of digital infrastructure and tools, are essential for ensuring the sustainability of the sector. Assisting our media to thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape, while supporting the continued provision of trustworthy, objective and accessible public service content is essential for a healthy democracy.”
Round 2 of the Local Democracy and Courts Reporting Schemes will deliver €5.7 million to support public interest journalism, on a platform-neutral basis, supporting 92 full-time and part-time journalism roles at a local and national level. Approximately €1 million of this set is aside for Ancillary Schemes, which will run concurrently, to fund 41 long-form and investigative content projects. This is the second round of funding allocated under these journalism schemes and follows the highly successful inaugural round of funding last year.
This year the new News Reporting Scheme will provide nearly €4 million to support the production of news stories covering subjects which are not substantially provided for by the news sector at present or are at risk of under-provision. Some €3 million of this funding was ring-fenced for the commercial radio sector. A total of 62 content projects have been supported under this initiative.
Under the News & Current Affairs Commercial Television Scheme, almost €3 million has been awarded to Virgin Media Television to fund content streams that will result in a considerable amount of additional news and current affairs programming for viewers in the coming year.
The Digital Transformation Scheme, a new 12-month pilot, will see 58 projects receive €2.7 million in funding to support the digital upskilling of the existing workforce through training and the significant modernisation of digital infrastructure, tools and technology. This will assist media organisations to thrive and compete in the national and global digital media sector.