Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for introducing this important legislation. It is wide-ranging and its scope is broad in that it effectively repeals a number of Acts and consolidates the roles of a number of State bodies. It is ambitious legislation.

Rather than try to cover all of the Bill I will focus on two substantive points. I will first address the composition of the proposed new broadcasting authority of Ireland, which is a significant step. On the appointment of members to the authority, while certain strides have been made in terms of transparency and accountability in the appointment of board members, the legislation falls short. It goes a step in the right direction but could have gone much further.

Section 8 proposes that five members of the BAI will be appointed by the Government, with four members appointed on the recommendation of the Oireachtas joint committee. All appointments to State boards, whether nominated by the Government or otherwise, should have to undergo a degree of scrutiny, questioning and rigorous performance testing at Oireachtas committees. I regret that after the enactment of this Bill the Government will continue to appointment people to these bodies on the basis of whatever criteria they see fit rather than on proper scrutiny at Oireachtas level. That is unfortunate. I realise those criteria are laid down in terms of expertise and so on but the Bill does not go far enough because ultimately it is at the discretion of the Government and there is a long history of people being appointed on the basis of political allegiance and affiliation rather than on merit. I support a system that rewards merit rather than any political affiliation.

I welcome the requirement for improved and somewhat balanced gender representation on the BAI and on the boards of RTE and TG4 but if it were to be subject to an Oireachtas scrutiny process a quota system may not be required because I have no doubt that female contenders for positions would qualify on the basis of merit and not on the basis of quotas being applied.

There are many changes proposed in the Bill which will vastly benefit the public interest, one of which is the fund that will be funnelled into historical and cultural programming and so on. That is important.

An Oireachtas channel is long overdue and has the potential to be an excellent addition to Irish programming and a major public interest benefit. In terms of content, it proposes to cover not just parliamentary debates in the Dáil and the Seanad but also Oireachtas committees and, I understand, some aspect of the work at Westminster, the United Nations and the European Council when it meets in public, if that is to happen. That is a positive measure. In terms of enhancing the role of democracy, and particularly in light of the significant loss of public confidence in political parties and the political system due to the major focus on tribunals and the levels of corruption exposed in the past decade, it is essential we provide a forum to showcase the way politics works for the people. It has the potential to engage——

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