Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this important legislation which primarily sets up and gives power to a new body called the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. This was first proposed by Deputy Michael D. Higgins when he was in Cabinet in the 1990s and it has taken a long time to introduce this legislation. The authority will be run by a new board comprising nine members. Four of the appointments will be scrutinised by an Oireachtas committee. While that is welcome, I fail to understand why all nine appointments should not be scrutinised. However, that at least four will be scrutinised to ensure they comply with proper structures and have something to offer to the broadcasting system is a breakthrough. Two statutory committees will also be appointed and a number of their members will also have to appear before the Oireachtas committee, which is positive. However, I urge the Minister to re-examine this provision during the passage to the Bill to consider properly scrutinising all nine members of the authority's board. I do not suggest people nominated by the Minister for political reasons lack ability but the operation of the authority is of extreme importance and must be seen to be above politics and properly scrutinised.

The broadcasting codes will be extremely important and the legislation provides for codes that will ensure news and other reports are done properly. It also makes clear that broadcasters must present news in an objective and impartial manner without any expression of its own views. It provides for a minimum period to be allocated for news and current affairs programming.

Northern Sound, my local radio station, was taken over by Radio Kerry recently and, as a result, did not retain the local board of management structure. For commercial reasons, the new management has curtailed the local news content in the early morning. With my constituency colleagues from all parties, I used the early morning programme to discuss issues and people listened during their breakfast or on their way to work. However, that facility is no longer available and is a major fault. I do not take away from the personnel in the newsroom at the station because this was an administrative decision which curtails the value of the new structure. Most local people listen to programmes on other radio stations now. A cost may attach to the new structure but it does not provide a benefit. I will meet senior station executives next Monday when they will officially open new state-of-the-art studios in Monaghan town.

The Bill will deal with the restriction of junk food advertising. I cannot say too much about this because, unfortunately, in my younger days I consumed as much junk food as anybody and that did not pay off in the long term because I have health problems such as diabetes that I may not have had if I had not been so fond of chip shops and other outlets. I am extremely disturbed that the legislation does not contain a provision to curtail the advertising of alcohol. I have raised the issue umpteen times in the House and the previous Taoiseach made many promises in this regard. He said the industry had guaranteed it would act on the issue and that he would monitor what was happening. However, the abuse of alcohol by young people is a major issue. Alcohol is a drug and consumption leads to abuse of other drugs. I urge the Minister to make an amendment to the legislation before it is too late to make sure the advertising of alcohol is addressed. Such a provision has been promised for years in intoxicating liquor legislation and so on. Since the Minister has decided to deal with the junk food issue, he should also address the abuse of alcohol.

I welcome the redress provisions in the legislation. The right to reply is important and my local radio station is extremely good in this regard. Recently, an individual, without knowing fully what he was dealing with, accused me on that station of not understanding an issue in this House and talked about codswallop. Many of my constituents went wild about the comments made but I was given the right to reply, which I appreciated. It is important that a right of reply be provided. A number of years ago another individual went on local radio and made various accusations against me without foundation. I did not pursue it further at the time, which I rued afterwards, but it is important that this provision be stitched into the legislation. Ordinary viewers and listeners should have the right to reply. This should not be similar to the provision applying to newspapers which sometimes print an apology in the corner of the fourth page relating to a front page story a few weeks earlier. On radio and television the right to reply should be provided during the same programme and for the same duration as the original accusation broadcast.

Community and commercial broadcasting is important. Northern Sound started off very much as a community-based organisation. The churches, the GAA, the co-operatives and others owned a share in it. However, broadcasting is not simple and, as time passed, they found that an organisation such as this must be run on a commercial basis. Good community radio structures are in place in other parts of the country, which I encourage. It is important that young people in particular have the opportunity to speak their minds on their local radio stations. Local radio, the Joe Duffy show and others have a significant role to play in how people's rights are brought forward in a constructive way. At times, some believe that they go over the top, but they give locals and people with problems the opportunity to have issues dealt with at other levels.

In this context, I welcome the Bill's proposal of an Oireachtas broadcasting structure. Years ago, it was stated that only those who could not sleep — other problems were mentioned — watched "Oireachtas Report", itself structured on what a single individual in the media believed was important on that day. It is good that people, particularly the elderly and those with disabilities, can see something of the House's workings on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Had this debate appeared live on television, more people would have been involved. Broadcasting would force our organisation to become more relevant and to change the procedures for matters on the Adjournment, Standing Order 32 notices and so on, allowing for more interaction between Ministers and ordinary Members. As Deputy Stanton stated, it is important to put a direct Oireachtas channel in place and to have continual comments concerning it on the main stations so as to encourage people to tune into debates.

Last week showed people the House's relevance. When matters are going well, ordinary people make out that the Houses are irrelevant. When the banking crisis arose, however, we were the only people who could make decisions that would make a difference to living standards. We might not have been very good in this regard previously.

While I welcome the establishment of a new channel, it is vital that our debates become more relevant, lively and participative. Question Time is staid. A Minister speaks for a certain number of minutes while the questioner gets scarce opportunity to ask a supplementary question. Such times should be better structured with quicker, sharper, more relevant and more realistic answers.

The proposal for a film channel is important. Recently, the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, was a guest of honour at Annaghmakerrig. During his visit to Annaghmakerrig House, I sat beside some of the people who write the storylines for RTE television programmes and others. It was good that he had the opportunity to meet such people and to learn of their interests and backgrounds. It was equally good that we in County Monaghan, through the generosity of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, provided the house for the arts and the industry in general, allowing people to relax and to do great work there.

Like those who attended the house, I welcome the inclusion of the arts and films in the Bill. It is a concern that, in the current economic situation, the arts might suffer. Annaghmakerrig House, the theatre in Castleblayney and so on are working on tight budgets. I hope that they will not be the victims of a difficult situation. How much time have I remaining?

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