Ms Tríona Quill:

I thank the Chairman. The heads of the Bill were first brought forward in January 2020. Through a series of circumstances, including the general election, the Government formation talks, the transfer of functions to a new Department and the establishment of the new committees following the formation of the Government, the committee was not established until October. The Minister brought the additional heads of Bill to the Government in December 2020. At that stage, prelegislative scrutiny was sought in recognition of the importance of some of the issues arising in the Bill.

That is the why prelegislative scrutiny was sought, namely, to recognise that these are key issues. We appreciate there is much in the Bill for the committee to examine but, at the risk of repeating myself, infringement proceedings are under way as well. Therefore, there are tensions between a few different objectives.

Regarding the integration of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill, it was not considered by the Government until 18 May. I am not sure what we should have said to the committee in advance of that. I have already apologised to the committee for any inconvenience arising as a result of that. We got a briefing to the committee secretariat as soon as we could after that to support it in its work in briefing the committee regarding the integration of the two Bills. We have a good working relationship with the committee secretariat and I hope that will continue.