An independent register · compiled from public award announcements

The Coimisiún na Meán Funding Register

Since 2023, Ireland's media regulator has offered public money to broadcasters, production companies, newspapers and journalists across eleven funding schemes. This register records every published award — who received it, how much was offered, and for what.

€83,103,429
offered across 1,151 awards · April 2023 – June 2026
All figures are funding offers in principle, subject to acceptance and contracting — not confirmed payments.
Recipients named
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Funding schemes
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Largest single offer
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Offered in 2026 so far
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The recipient ledger

click any recipient to see their awards

Showing ownership groups — titles under common corporate ownership are consolidated, with joint awards split 50/50. Switch to "published names" to see every recipient exactly as Coimisiún na Meán listed it. See Methodology for the ownership mapping and its sources.

The shape of the money

charts reflect the filters above

Offers by scheme

Offers by year

Licence-fee Sound & Vision vs the Exchequer-backed schemes introduced after the Future of Media Commission

Top recipients

Methodology & caveats

Source. Every line in this register is taken from Coimisiún na Meán's own published funding announcements and award tables (News & Publications → Media Development, cnam.ie), covering the period from the final BAI-administered Sound & Vision rounds (April 2023) to the most recent announcements. Nothing here is leaked or estimated; it is the State's own record, consolidated and made searchable.

Offers, not payments. Coimisiún na Meán publishes funding offers in principle, "subject to acceptance and contracting". It does not publish per-recipient payment data. Some offers may have been reduced, withdrawn or never contracted. Totals here are therefore the value of offers announced, which may exceed money actually paid.

Unpublished amounts. For three rounds — Sponsorship R1 (€245,000), Sponsorship R2 (€336,000) and the Sectoral Learning & Development Programme R1 (€550,000) — CnM named the recipients but never published individual amounts. Those 82 awards appear in this register marked n/p and are excluded from recipient totals; the €1,131,000 of round totals is included in the headline figure.

Known discrepancy. For Sound & Vision Round 49 (August 2023), CnM's press release announced €6.4M across 57 projects, but its published award table itemises €5.74M — a gap of roughly €655,000 the regulator has not explained. CnM's own stated breakdown for that round (35 radio + 29 TV projects) also sums to 64 projects, not 57.

Names as published, with an ownership view. Recipients are listed exactly as CnM published them. The optional ownership groups view consolidates titles under five verified corporate owners. The mapping: Irish Times Group (Irish Times DAC — Irish Examiner, The Echo (Cork), Waterford News & Star, Western People, Roscommon Herald, Carlow/Kildare/Laois Nationalist, per the 2018 Landmark Media acquisition cleared by the CCPC, plus its 75%-owned WLR FM and Beat 102-103); Mediahuis Ireland (Irish Independent, independent.ie regional editions, The Herald, The Kerryman, The Corkman, Sligo Champion, Wexford People, Drogheda Independent, The Argus); Iconic Media Group (Formpress Publishing — Limerick Leader, Leinster Leader, Leinster Express, Kilkenny People, Tipperary Star, Clonmel Nationalist, Donegal Democrat, Dundalk Democrat, Longford Leader, Leitrim Observer, plus its group applications); Bauer Media Audio Ireland (Newstalk, FM104, Q102, Cork's 96FM, C103, LMFM, Live 95, plus its group applications); Celtic Media Group (Anglo Celt, Meath Chronicle, Westmeath Examiner, Connaught Telegraph, and the Tuam Herald — acquired March 2026, after its award was made).

Attribution rules. Joint applications (the Western People/Connaught Telegraph partnership; the Mediahuis/Court News Ireland partnerships) are split 50/50 between the partners and marked as such in the award lines. Majority-owned radio stations are fully attributed to their controlling group. Titles whose current ownership could not be verified to a documented source are left under their published names — this includes the Drogheda Leader, Dundalk Leader, Midland Tribune/Tullamore Tribune and the Connacht Tribune (an Iconic acquisition was reported as in progress in late 2024 but completion has not been confirmed here). The group view therefore remains conservative: true ownership-level concentration may be higher, not lower.

Funding sources. Sound & Vision is financed by 7% of TV licence fee receipts (with occasional Exchequer top-ups, e.g. €2M for children's programming in R53). The journalism schemes, Digital Transformation Scheme and Commercial TV News Fund are Exchequer-funded measures introduced following the Report of the Future of Media Commission.

Key announcements drawn on include:

  • 6 Apr 2023 — €7.5m+ approved under Sound & Vision (R47–48, final BAI rounds)
  • 30 Aug 2023 — €6.4m approved under Sound & Vision (R49)
  • 7 Nov 2023 — €2.4m additional for commercial radio (R50)
  • 7 Mar 2024 — almost €800k for media activities (SL&DP R1, Spon R1)
  • 12 Apr 2024 — €8.6m under Sound & Vision (R51–52)
  • 10 Sep 2024 — over €10m under Sound & Vision (R53)
  • 14 Nov 2024 — €4m under Sound & Vision (R54)
  • 16 Jan 2025 — €336k Sponsorship Scheme (Spon R2)
  • 6 Feb 2025 — €5.7m under new Journalism Schemes (LDRS/CRS R1)
  • 6 Mar 2025 — €0.5m for media sector training (SL&DP R2)
  • 18 Mar 2025 — €7m under Sound & Vision (R55)
  • 20 Jun 2025 — almost €750k for community broadcasters (R57)
  • 18 Sep 2025 — €6.5m under Sound & Vision (R56)
  • 15 Jan 2026 — €300k for media sector events (Spon R3)
  • 29 Jan 2026 — over €15m for the Irish media sector (NRS, LDRS/CRS R2, DTS, TV News Fund)
  • 17 Feb 2026 — over €540k for the media sector (MS&DP)
  • 14 Apr 2026 — €6.4m under Sound & Vision (R58)
  • 28 May 2026 — Media Literacy & Countering Disinformation (ML&CD R1)