Dr. Eoin O'Dell:

Section 5 of my Bill would set out what the Minister of State called guidelines. He referred to the fact that the US national anthem was included in legislation. It is included as part of guidelines. My suggestion on what should be done as opposed to what must be done follows the US pattern where standing to attention, saluting the flag and singing the anthem are all stated in terms of what should be done; namely, they are guidelines which it is possible to include in legislation. The legislation could define the various versions of the national anthem in Irish, English, the music, sign language and so forth. It could then provide that all of the various versions should be treated with dignity and respect.

My Bill also tries to pick up on Senator Mark Daly's point about how some potential commercial uses might be inappropriate. We have heard some strong and powerful submissions about how inappropriate they might be.

Where they are inappropriate, there should be some means to ensure they do not happen. Senator Daly's first cut was to attempt to use copyright law to do this. I agree with the Minister of State that that just will not work because it is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. My suggestion is that if it is specified that commercial activities and commercial advertisements should not happen, if what is meant by commercial activity, a commercial advertisement and "should not happen" is defined and if these elements are specified in their own terms in the Bill, the matter is dealt with appropriately. Therefore, the anthem should be defined and it should be stated that it should be treated with respect and that commercial activities concerning the anthem should be regulated. This is what the Bill seeks to do.