Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

The measures proposed in this Bill will be useful to that group of Australians.

With regard to the Minister's proposals on technology, I intend to bring amendments on Committee Stage because I am not certain that use will be made of the optimum technology.

Although this Bill only forms part of the wider broadcasting legislation currently under consideration, the building blocks put in place should be able to stand the test of time. As Members are aware, technology has an extremely short lifespan and some technologies become obsolete overnight. Consequently, it is imperative that the technology put in place and the systems used should stand the test of time. It has been suggested in some quarters that the proposed technology to be used, namely, the multiplex system, is on the cusp of being out of date due to overcrowding. It may not necessarily give the best possible service to those for whom it is intended. In this context, it may be necessary to consider amendments although the Minister has already stated there is provision to use other technologies in this regard.

I wish to refer briefly to the digital television pilot scheme in operation. While pilot schemes are well and good, they are merely pilot schemes. There are methods to acquire and condense the information and to bring it up to speed much faster than is the case with the existing scheme. A couple more years will elapse before anything worthwhile will be done in respect of moving towards the switch over from analogue broadcasting. I have received information from sources that suggests it would be possible to carry out a similar exercise to the pilot programme in a shorter time that would provide the requisite information and begin to put in place the necessary procedures for the change to digital broadcasting. The Minister will probably claim this is untrue and that other considerations exist. While I am familiar with such considerations, if we spend too much time debating the procedures to be followed, time may have caught up with the technology and it may be obsolete before it is ever put into place.

Although this may sound extraordinary or crazy, it has happened on countless previous occasions in Ireland and elsewhere. Other countries now recognise that some of the technology that has been proposed for use under this Bill is out of date and will not be used or must be changed. Given the Minister's opening remarks, obviously he is considering this issue.

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