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

I thank the Deputy for the amendment. As with amendment No. 86, I cannot accept amendment No. 87 as it simply repeats a change to the 2009 Act made by the Bill, in this case in section 33.

The other element of this amendment seeks to change the requirement on RTÉ to make available a national television and sound broadcasting service to the whole community on the island of Ireland “as far as is reasonably practicable” to a requirement to make it available “in full”. This would not be appropriate as it would legally oblige RTÉ to obtain a set of circumstances where it does not reasonably have the means to ensure those circumstances would always be in place, particularly as RTÉ is not a State body in both jurisdictions on this island. As with amendment No. 86, this amendment would have the effect, for instance, of obliging broadcasts to make available sports events both within and outside the jurisdiction of the State. Acquisition of rights to sporting events are a commercial matter between a rights-holder or sports body and broadcasters. These are very often allocated on an exclusive territorial basis and, as such, it is not possible to legislate for and compel RTÉ to make such events available. Examples of such events might include the World Cup or the Olympics.

I understand the frustration of viewers in Northern Ireland when certain events may not be shown on RTÉ in Northern Ireland given the distribution of rights to those events. However, I am advised this amendment would not make a difference to the current position. Were this amendment to be interpreted as compelling RTÉ to acquire rights to sporting events, such as the Olympics, on an all-island basis, there could be significant unintended consequences in terms of the amount of additional expenditure that would need to be incurred by RTÉ. For example, were a rights-holder aware that RTÉ is compelled by legislation to make events available on an all-island basis, it may seek to charge a premium, given it would know that RTÉ would have to acquire the rights.