A new commission will be established to regulate the media and to replace the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, under proposals to be brought to Cabinet by Minister for Communications Richard Bruton on Thursday.
The Cabinet meeting comes ahead of a meeting in Dublin on Thursday evening between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin on the conclusion of the confidence and supply deal and the date of the next election.
Speculation in Fine Gael is growing that the Taoiseach may call a snap election for next month, with either February 7th or 14th widely mooted by TDs. Mr Varadkar, however, has largely kept his counsel in public or in private.
Mr Bruton is expected to ask colleagues to approve the establishment of a new commission on the media, including online operators. A levy of media operators is mooted by Mr Bruton, although sources said exact details have yet to be finalised.
Mr Bruton is understood to be seeking approval to draft a general scheme of a Bill containing such measures, meaning the proposals are at a very early stage.
The Cabinet meeting, which is being held in Marino, Dublin, will also discuss disability issues. The location of the meeting, in the Marino Institute of Higher Education, is in the Dublin Bay North constituency of Finian McGrath, the Minister of State for Disability Issues.
Tax buffer
Also at Cabinet, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe is expected to seek approval to set aside hundreds of millions of euro every year for the next five years as a buffer against expected drops in corporation tax receipts.
Sources said the move by Mr Donohoe will be in addition to any money set aside for the State’s “rainy-day fund”, which currently holds €1.5 billion.
Mr Donohoe is also expected to update official economic forecasts for 2020. The Department of Finance’s budget day forecasts predicted GDP growth of 0.7 per cent in 2020, but Budget 2020 was based on the risk of a no-deal Brexit this year, a risk which has now passed. Sources stressed, however, that any extra money will not be used to increase spending on new policies, such as tax cuts or welfare increases.
Meanwhile, Labour Dublin Fingal TD Brendan Ryan has said he will not stand for the party at the next election. Mr Ryan served as a senator from 2007 to 2011 and as a TD since February 2011. He was only one of seven Labour TDs to be re-elected for the party during its difficult election in 2016, when it dropped from 37 to seven seats.
He is likely to be succeeded on the Dublin Fingal ticket by Duncan Smith, a Fingal councillor who stood for the party in the recent byelection in the constituency.
“I am confident that we can hold our Labour seat in a general election with a new candidate and because of that I believe the time is now right for the transition to the next generation,” Mr Ryan said.
