Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I am very proud and honoured to commence the Second Stage debate on the Broadcasting Bill 2008. This Chamber has seen historic debate in the past days. Listening to the radio this morning, I heard an interview with our colleague in the Seanad, Senator Martin Brady, when he was exiting at 7 a.m. He used the analogy that what we were doing was like putting out a fire, which was well put. There is no doubt that we are in changing times, when the sort of capitalism espoused by such characters as Mr. Gordon Gekko and others on Wall Street is now in cinders following that fire. In many ways some of the definitions that we have lived by in the past ten or 20 years are changing. These include definitions of the best form of economics, what constitutes a good loan and the best way of investing capital.

This Bill is about how we define broadcasting. In that way, it defines our national conversation. It could be said that broadcasting is where we have the expression of our collective consciousness and where our sense of ourselves and our culture is played out. This happens in such sectors as entertainment, education, news, music and every format of broadcasting that we see and hear on the television and radio every day. This is important and sensitive legislation. I use the term "sensitive" because it is legislation which is at that difficult meeting point where the power of politics and Government meets the power of the media. The regulation and legislation in this sector will never be easy to manage, which we must all recognise. This area is also sensitive because we are often regulating subjects where it is more difficult to be certain and where the definitive lines of economics or science do not necessarily apply. One is dealing with our culture and our sense of ourselves which are defined by more subjective, metaphysical concepts. The legislation is also sensitive because in regulating that national conversation, one is dealing with subjects which might not be easy to bring up in an ordinary public house. The key remit of the regulation of broadcasting could be seen to be in the area of entertainment, celebrity, sports and consumption programmes, all of which exist.

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