Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 20:

In page 23, line 14, to delete “and”.

The substantial amendments in this group are amendments Nos. 22 and 59. Amendment No. 22 relates to section 139ZU of the Broadcasting Act 2009, as amended. This section provides that where Coimisiún na Meán has made a decision to impose a financial sanction on a person, the person may make a submission to it in relation to the determination of the amount of the financial sanction. Section 139ZU(3) provides that Coimisiún na Meán may subsequently request further information from that person where it considers this appropriate for the purposes of determining the amount of the financial sanction. Amendment No. 22 also has the effect of making it an offence for a person to provide information that they know to be false or misleading in their response to a request from Coimisiún na Meán for further information relating to determining the amount of financial sanction. This amendment will have the effect of deterring persons from providing false or misleading information to Coimisiún na Meán.

Amendment No. 22 provides for consistency with other sections of the Broadcasting Act 2009, as amended, which provide that it is a category 2 offence for a person to provide false or misleading information to Coimisiún na Meán. For example, further to a request for information to a person by Coimisiún na Meán after the authorised officer has issued a final report, it is a category 2 offence to knowingly provide false or misleading information to Coimisiún na Meán.

Amendments Nos. 20 and 21 relate to the purely editorial changes required to accommodate the insertion of amendment No. 22. Amendment No. 59 has the same effect as amendment No. 22, except that it relates to a situation where the CCPC makes a request to a person for further information for the purposes of determining the amount of a financial sanction to be imposed on the person.