oireachtas.ie
Minister Catherine Martin TD will continue as Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media after the changes to the Cabinet following the appointment of the new Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar.
The Independent Broadcasters of Ireland has welcomed the continuity, wishing the minister well for the remainder of her term as Minister with responsibility for Media.
Commenting on the appointment, John Purcell, Chairman of the IBI said: “Minister Martin has had Ministerial responsibility for the Media during a particularly challenging period.
“During that time she has shown herself to be a committed and supportive minister and has delivered: a number of innovative schemes to assist the sector cope with the challenges of the pandemic; she has started the process of implementing the recommendation of the Future of Media Commission and she has steered the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill onto the statute books, legislation which will see the establishment of a new regulator and re-shape how media, online and social media platforms will be regulated into the future.
“We are grateful to Minister Martin for her interest, commitment and support to the sector over the first period of her tenure as Minister. The Media landscape remains challenging, there is much work important remaining to be done and time is of the essence.
“We welcome her continued presence in the role and look forward to continuing to work with Minister Martin as we all seek to ensure that our sector can remain viable in the face of continuing and varied challenges and continue to deliver the essential services to the public which are used every week by millions of listeners all over the country and which are so important to our society and our democracy.”