Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 79:

In page 59, line 34, to delete “Complaints”.

Section 11 provides for amendments to sections 47 and 48 of the Broadcasting Act 2009, the purpose of which is to extend the complaint-handling provisions which currently apply to broadcasters to cover video on-demand services and to provide for circumstances in which coimisiún na meán may handle complaints made to broadcasters and video on-demand services. Section 47 of the Broadcasting Act, in particular, provides for the preparation and implementation of codes of practice for complaints handling by broadcasters and video on-demand services.

Section 48(3) of the Broadcasting Act, as substituted by the Bill, provides for the circumstances in which an coimisiún may dismiss a complaint, while section 48(9) provides that a complaint that is being resolved under a code of practice prepared by a broadcaster or video on-demand service may still be treated by an coimisiún as a complaint made to it. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has noted that section 48(9) could be interpreted as allowing for a complaint to be submitted to an coimisiún which has already been effectively resolved under a code of practice prepared by a provider and that it is unclear whether an coimisiún would have the authority to dismiss such a complaint.

The purpose of amendments Nos. 80 and 81 is to provide absolute clarity that coimisiún na meán can dismiss a complaint in those circumstances. Amendment No. 79 is a technical amendment to delete the section titled "Complaints" before section 48 of the 2009 Act to be inserted by the Bill, which deals with complaints handling with regard to media service providers, in light of the fact that a number of other sections with regard to the individual complaints mechanism for harmful online content will be inserted later in the Bill. This will avoid a single section being entitled, "complaints", where there are no multiple sections dealing with complaints in the Bill.