Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

With all due respect, that is not what the press release stated. It did not indicate that if a person continues after losing a licence he or she thereby runs the risk of the fine. That is a couple of stages down the road. It states that "failure to comply will result in possible suspension or revocation of the licence and broadcasters can be fined up to €250,000." Anybody reading that would think that unless the conditions are complied with, there is the possibility of a fine.

Play TV is operating at the moment and I hope TV3 sorts this out by simply ending the contract it has with Play TV. I urge it to do so as this legislation does not seem to tackle the scam being perpetrated by Play TV on a particular station on television. It is up to TV3 to sort it out and I hope it does so.

I am concerned by the statement made by a Minister - which may have been inadvertent - and my legal advice called it dishonest. The Minister might retract the press release and say that at the very least it was ambiguous. To any person reading the statement, it was grossly misleading. We pursued the matter in the House and tried to convince the Minister about it. We now see a subsequent press release claiming that what was not the case is now the case. If people read that, they would read that failure to comply will result in possible suspension or revocation, and that broadcasters can be fined up to €250,000.

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