Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

To be fair to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, he was not in office at that time. It is a practical idea. Having one person in charge, for a period limited to the duration of the transfer, seems to be a very good way of managing the major change from analogue to digital, which will be fundamental in broadcasting terms. This is how it is working in Britain. Quite apart from the structural changes or technical changes, an issue of public awareness arises in this regard. Provision could have been made in this regard in the Bill. Why has it not?

At the conference run by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, the coverage of referenda was raised. I do not expect the Minister to have the answer to this problem, but it is worth making the point that, as a result of the McKenna judgment and the legislation that flowed therefrom, we have an artificial balance that does not necessarily reflect the way in which a community or society views a particular issue. The artificial balance sometimes leads to uneven emphasis in a particular direction. I do not know if anybody has the solution to this but the fact that it was raised at all should lead us to consider more appropriate legislation.

The prohibition on advertising certain foods to children is very close to the Minister's heart. I welcome it but the provision is extremely weak. It is stated the authority "may" prohibit advertising and "may" consult relevant parties. This could be more to do with optics than about a real effort to tackle obesity, which is a major problem that we must take extremely seriously. Realistically, to have an effective ban, one must apply it at European, if not global, level. How far will the Minister's proposal extend? Research shows that banning advertising for children does not necessarily lead to results. In Sweden or another Scandinavian country, the results of such a ban were analysed quite carefully but the ban did not seem to have any marked effect on childhood obesity. However, any measure that may work deserves a shot.

This matter brings into focus the elephant in the room. If the Minister is considering banning food advertising, why did he not consider banning alcohol advertising? Until quite recently, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, used to leap up during the Order of Business to raise the issue of banning alcohol advertising, stating how agreements with the industry would not work and that they were not worth the paper they were written on. The Green Party had a clear policy in this regard. While the issue has been raised, why is it not contained in the Bill?

There is no doubt but that commercial interests regard children as a market in a very calculating and cynical way. The sexualisation of children and the selling of inappropriate foods thereto are very worrying. We need to consider this area in terms of what is happening to our children and how they can be safeguarded.

On certain morning programmes shown by our national broadcaster, there is the most explicit sexual material. Sometimes children are at school during the broadcasts and sometimes they are not. While the programming is all in the spirit of good fun, some of it is quite disturbing. The Mary Whitehouse may be coming out in me but I believe the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland should perhaps examine this and determine whether we could be a little more sophisticated in how we deal with these subjects.

A complaint was raised with me by Deputy Ruairí Quinn which concerns people living in apartments where the developer of the apartment has signed an exclusive deal with NTL, which is not known for providing good service. The person who buys the apartment cannot get a decent service but is caught with this monopoly arrangement between the developer and NTL. Apparently, the Competition Authority has examined this with the National Consumer Agency and ComReg. My understanding is that the only way it can be dealt with is through broadcasting legislation so I would ask that the Minister would consider this — he may not be aware of the issue.

It is a grossly unfair situation. I am a former consumer with NTL who left in a rage because I was getting such a bad deal, which I do not mind saying. People should at least have a choice.

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