Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I welcome this Bill. However, given that it is part of a wider legislative initiative, it would have been more beneficial had we time to pass all the legislation discussed in the e-consultation process. Broadcasting is undergoing major change with the advent of the digital era. The future of free-to-air transmissions is in doubt and legislation will be required in that regard. The needs of consumers, both in Ireland and abroad, will have to be observed. The Irish diaspora is spread far and wide and significant numbers of Irish people travel on a daily basis to other parts of Europe and the world, not to mention the numbers who come here from elsewhere. All travellers have an interest in the current events of the country they have left or are visiting. We should be certain this Bill will meet the needs of these travellers.

Having visited the Irish diaspora of a different era in Camden Town and further afield in Boston and Chicago, I was struck by the interest of the Irish abroad in having up-to-date information about events at home. I once met a group of people whose forefathers had long ago been transported to Australia and who had never previously met an Irish public representative. They cried at their first meeting with the Irish parliamentary delegation of which I was part. It was disturbing to see their hunger for information about a country they had never visited.

See this speech in context