State media regulator Coimisiún na Meán’s (CnM) legal bill last year jumped by 55% to €9m against the background of High Court legal challenges taken against CnM by social media giants.
New figures contained in the 2025 annual report for Coimisiún na Meán (CnM) shows that €6.2m of the regulator’s overall legal spend related to legal proceedings.
A number of cases taken against CnM since its inception in 2023 involve social media giants the State agency is trying to regulate and they include Elon Musk’s X, Meta, WhatsApp and Reddit.
A note attached to the accounts states that due to the nature of its operations the Commission is involved in legal actions, principally judicial review proceedings on its decisions.
The cost of legal proceedings includes a provision of €5.84m for liabilities that may arise to third parties, in respect of a number of legal actions notified prior to the end of 2025.
A note states that the provision is based on an assessment of the probable costs of defending known actions to the extent that such costs can be reliably estimated.
During 2025, CnM also incurred a spend of €2.7m on legal advice that is included in the €9m legal bill.
The 2025 annual report shows that last year, staff costs at CnM increased by 43% to €18.2m.
Staff costs surged as average numbers employed at the regulator increased by 75% or 117 from 176 to 273.
In their joint foreword the Commissioners stated that “this was a year of continued development and consolidation for Coimisiún na Meán as we advanced our role as Ireland’s media regulator and development agency”.
“2025 was also a year of significant organisational development, both in terms of people and structures. We continued to build the corporate functions that underpin our work as an efficient and effective regulator,” they state.
Chairperson Jeremy Godfrey received a salary of €258,453 while three senior members of staff each received a salary between €190,000 and €200,000 with a fifth earning a salary between €180,000 and €190,000.
A further 28 staff received salaries between €100,000 and €120,000 while key management personnel shared €4.4m.
Numbers earning over €100,000 at CnM last year totalled 33 compared to 22 in that earning bracket in 2024.
In 2025, CnM spent €90,000 on an employee well-being programme.
Last year, the cost of operating the expanding CnM increased by 34.5% from €30.9m to €46.52m and staff costs and legal fees accounted for 58.5% of the overall spend.
The Commission recorded a surplus of €14.26m after generating €60.78m in income. It refunded €11.15m from the €14.26m surplus.
Overall, CnM’s income increased from €41.52m to €60.78m and this followed its levy income rising by 84% from €28.03m to €51.58m while its Oireachtas grant income reduced sharply from €11.8m to €6.98m.
The main sources of levy income was €18.2m in designated online service levies while CnM generated €21.89m in its intermediary service levy.
CnM’s audio-visual on-demand media service levies raised €2m while the TV programme service levy generated €4.4m. Its sound broadcasting levy raised €2.65m.
In 2025, CnM received 54 broadcast and video on demand complaints compared to 83 for 2024.
The report states that of the 54 new complaints received in this period, RTÉ broadcasts accounted for 75.93% of the complaints accepted.
Newstalk 106-108FM accounted for 12.96%, Virgin Media Television accounted for 5.56%, Highland Radio, Red FM, and Radio Nova accounted for 1.85% respectively.
The majority of complaints were about current affairs programmes. This was closely followed by news programmes and then general programming.
The report states that in 2025, the Commission decided upon 125 complaints over 14 meetings.
In 2025, 14 complaints were referred by the Commission to be considered by authorised persons for investigation.
Ten complaints were decided on by authorised persons during the 2025 period and there were nine decisions where there was a reason to suspect an intervention and one decision that there was no reason to suspect a contravention.
The report also discloses that through the CnM Sound and Vision grant scheme for broadcasters, assessment panels assessed 365 applications seeking just over €40.5m in total funding.
The report states that by the end of the year, the ccheme had offered funding of €14.28m to support the production of 160 projects.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
