Noel O'Flynn (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

This debate is topical. Deputy Coveney mentioned religious advertising. Some weeks ago it was brought to the public's attention that yet another advertisement from a religious organisation had been banned from the airwaves. This ban highlights once again the need to amend current broadcasting legislation so as to ease the onerous restrictions on religious advertising. The advertisement in question concerned Veritas and it is worth citing it to demonstrate how innocuous it was. It read:

Come to Veritas for great confirmation and First Holy Communion gift ideas. Choose from our diverse range of religious and inspirational gifts, including children's literature, prayer books, rosary beads, religious medals and candles.

So if you want to give your loved one a spiritual gift that relates to what Holy Communion and confirmation are really about, visit Veritas at Abbey Street.

The advertisement went on to list a number of other Veritas locations and invited people to visit the Veritas website. There is nothing offensive about that advertisement. This is not the first time a Veritas advertisement met this fate. Last year an attempt by a station to broadcast an advertisement over Christmas fell foul of the current legislation because it mentioned the word "crib". Clearly, this is absurd.

These bans are being imposed on two grounds, both of which are set out in section 41 of the Bill. The first is that no advertisement directed towards a religious end can be broadcast, while the second prohibits advertisements which address the merits or otherwise of belonging to a particular religion. Only religious publications and events are exempt from this legislation. In 2002, however, an advertisement for The Irish Catholic was banned because it mentioned a feature series entitled The Good the Church Does, which concerned the work done by organisations such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

The most recent Veritas advertisement which somehow made it to air on RTE in April was reported to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission by a member of the public and in the middle of September the BCC upheld the complaint based on the above-mentioned legislative grounds. Specifically, it deemed that describing rosary beads and prayer books as "spiritual gifts" fell foul of the law, as did mention of the Veritas website because it made the link between Veritas and its owners, the Catholic bishops. Any reasonable person would have to agree this is an overly strict and literal interpretation of the law.

The legislation also bans advertisements directed towards a political end but advertisements for secular newspapers are permitted all the time, even though such advertisements often have highly politicised content. For example, a recent advertisement for Village magazine referred to the lies of the European Union. The drafters of the current law cannot have imagined that it would be interpreted so as to ban advertisements that mentioned cribs or gifts for First Holy Communion. What is happening now is ludicrous and indefensible.

The one defence offered in respect of the status quo is that if organisations such as Veritas are allowed to advertise their products, extremist religious groups might be able to gain access to the airwaves. However, no one fears that if the now defunct Village magazine is allowed to advertise, neo-Nazi publications will also be allowed. The fears are directed towards religion rather than politics. When a Christian organisation called Power to Change was banned from the airwaves in 2003, it was allowed to advertise on UTV, which show that the North's advertising regulations are more liberal than the Republic's.

It is patently clear that the legislation needs to be amended and, with a new Broadcasting Bill before us, we should take the opportunity to do so. We need to take a more liberal approach to religious advertising and permit any advertisement not deemed harmful to the common good. In this way extremist organisations can still be kept off the airwaves, while allowing mainstream and long established organisations such as Veritas and The Irish Catholic the same access that secular organisations and publications enjoy. I urge the Minister to take this into account by amending section 41 of the Bill.

I could speak all day about the Bill because I served as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in the last Oireachtas. That committee did extensive work on the process of e-consultation for the Bill. I welcome the officials from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, including Mr. Bill Morrissey, who worked extremely hard on it. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, was also a member of that committee.

The huge success of independent commercial radio stations in Ireland has been built in a short length of time. I need not look outside my own county with its three successful radio stations, Cork 96 FM, C103 and Red FM, which broadcast to different sections of the community and give the people of Cork city and county local information, news, music and entertainment. Their importance is further emphasised when one considers the reduction or cessation of RTE's local services throughout the country, including County Cork. In excess of 2.5 million people tune in to independent radio stations on a daily basis and the celebration in 2009 of 21 years of independent radio services in Ireland makes it hard to imagine life in Ireland prior to their arrival.

I have discussed many aspects of the Bill with representatives of the independent radio sector and people who work in the independent stations in Cork. I am pleased to say the reaction has been largely positive. I have a strong interest in the Broadcasting Bill in the light of my involvement in its inception and early stages. The Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources broke the mould in that regard and I hope it will be a template for future committees when legislation is drafted and discussed. The history of the Bill stretches back to 2003 when the joint committee, with the assistance of former Senator Kathleen O'Meara, produced a report on the licensing process as experienced by local radio stations. In January 2007 public hearings allowed interest groups, broadcasters and interested members of the public to comment on the Bill. The process of e-consultation for legislation was first used in regard to this Bill.

Senator O'Meara's report highlighted several areas of concern to the joint committee, including the high cost of radio licence applications, the automatic roll-over of licences for compliant radio stations and the fast-tracking of radio licences for compliant radio stations where there has been no other expression of interest in the licence. I am glad that Deputy Coveney spoke about that issue. As Chairman of the joint committee, I considered these three provisions could bring a level of practicality to a costly and time consuming procedure and would benefit both the radio stations and the regulator.

I am delighted that the Minister and his officials took on board the recommendations made in Senator O'Meara's report but puzzled as to why certain other provisions were introduced in respect of the granting of a radio licence. The term of a licence will now be reduced to seven years. As a business person, I realise that a seven year licence will mean that local radio stations will not be able to form a long-term strategic plan. This makes it difficult to attract and retain talented staff or justify investment in premises, equipment and staff training. In essence, such a reduction in the term of licences punishes existing radio stations for the lack of competition. I ask the Minister to allow the term of a commercial radio licence to remain at ten years, regardless of the number of groups which declare an interest.

Digital broadcasting is a reality in Ireland. Digital television services will be available in every household in the country by 2012. A large number of houses have already installed the necessary equipment. During my time as Chairman of the joint committee, I visited London to see what steps were been taken in the United Kindgdom to further the digital cause. I spoke with practitioners and experts from the BBC and commercial radio stations. To encourage investment, development and involvement in digital radio services, commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom were offered a 12 year licence extension, with the result that the development and take-up of digital radio services are years ahead of those in Ireland.

There is a high degree of uncertainty surrounding digital radio services in Ireland. The shortage of concrete information on technology, carriage on the digital platform and the benefits that digital affords radio broadcasters means that every encouragement needs to be given to broadcasters. The Minister has offered a contract extension of not more than four years to commercial radio stations which invest in digital radio services. This is not a sufficient incentive for any commercial broadcaste; I suggest offering a contract extension of not less than seven years would result in a greater level of interest and involvement from the commercial radio sector.

I welcome the proposed establishment of a single regulatory body as an open, fair and equitable system for all broadcasters. However, I have two concerns. In regard to membership of the authority, the BAI will regulate a diverse sector. It is vital those who are appointed by the Minister or nominated by an Oireachtas committee to sit on the board have significant knowledge, experience and interest in broadcasting if they are to fulfil their duties to the level that the sector requires and demands. A board member with industry expertise would be of significant advantage to the authority. Proof of this can been seen in Mr. Joe O'Brien of RTE news and current affairs who is currently sitting on the RTE authority and Mr. David Tighe of Live 95FM in Limerick who sits on the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, both of whom bring a practical understanding of the issues at hand. It is important that we strike a correct balance in the composition of these boards and committees.

My second concern pertains to finance. The current economic climate and the upcoming budget forced me to look at the BAI in a new light. I would like to ensure ongoing built-in scrutiny and examination of the BAI budget are included in the Bill. Such a mechanism would eliminate the incremental rise in the cost of the regulator. I recommend to the Minister the suggestion made by the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland that the BAI present a three-year budget to the Oireachtas joint committee for its approval and consent.

We have already spoken about section 41 of the Bill which deals with advertising. The independent radio sector has raised the matter of the provision in the Bill for a maximum of ten minutes of advertising per hour. This is the same, as Deputies know, as commercial radio stations are currently allowed and is carefully monitored by the BCI. One more second of advertising than is permitted equates to a breach by the broadcaster in question. Given the live environment in which radio services operate, with breaking news and live interviews, a degree of flexibility should be built in to the advertising requirements of the Bill. I suggest the advertising cap be averaged over two consecutive hours. This would not mean that broadcasters would benefit from an increase in advertising minutes or from extra revenue, but it would eliminate petty breaches and the associated administration requirements, while providing a more free-flowing service for the listener. I noted with interest the discussions on this topic in the Seanad. A bone of contention surrounding this section was that of broadcasters overloading particular hours with advertisements when listenership was high in order to gain financially. I support the proposal of my colleague Senator Jim Walsh that the cap of ten minutes per hour be averaged over two consecutive hours, while maintaining a requirement for a minimum of eight minutes of advertising in any one hour.

I have often been on local radio with Neil Prendeville in Cork, fighting hard and almost coming to blows, if I could describe it that way, only to run into news time and subsequently lose my train of thought.

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