James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Butler; another colleague may join us.

I thank Deputy Penrose for introducing this legislation to the House. I acknowledge the presence in the Chamber of representatives of both sides of the debate, which is welcome. It is a pleasant change to have such interest in a Bill being debated in the House.

I regret to say that Fianna Fáil will not be supporting this Bill on this occasion and I will outline a number of concerns and reasons that is so. Of course, we are and always have been 100% supportive of local and indigenous production of music and culture, but we feel the quota system is unworkable. Quotas of any kind are an imperfect mechanism. Quotas are inappropriate, particularly in this space.

It is worth noting at the outset that quotas of 25% to 30%, depending on the station and the contracts awarded, are already in effect. The proposal to increase this to 40% seems a bridge too far, and I will outline a number of reasons.

I am not convinced that quotas have worked internationally. The Deputy made reference to international quotas. France is the most often cited example. South Africa also introduced quotas. Canada, maybe for similar reasons, experimented with a quota system as well. The motivation in those cases was more a language motivation than a cultural motivation, and that may be at the heart of this Bill. That may be where the dichotomy occurs, if there is a misunderstanding between the sides of the House on this issue. If this is a language Bill, let us call it a language Bill and let us take it as such and deal with it separately. At present, it appears to be a cultural Bill involving a cultural quota, and as the Minister stated, it is difficult to define how that might come about.

The experience internationally has not been exclusively positive. If we look at Canada, the city of Montreal was riven apart. Digressing a little, in 1976, Montreal was a fine city and it hosted the Olympic Games. A decade later, the city was in tatters. Most of its economy had migrated to other parts of the state. A lot of this was due to language laws and faction fighting within. Of course, its quota laws pertained to language barriers rather than quotas. In France and in Canada, I understand these are language quotas as opposed to a cultural music quota. In fact, in France, they reversed the legislation. The legislature in France reversed it, back down to 30% from what it had been. At one stage, there was a notable boycott when radio stations boycotted the quota that was in place and got away with doing so.

On the point about forced cultural consumption, there is an ongoing debate about the Irish language and how we teach it and educate, and why after 80 years of compulsory Irish, we do not have a fluent Irish speaking population. Perhaps it is because it is forced. Perhaps forced quotas are not the way forward for any aspect of education or cultural promotion. Forced culture is unwelcome and the recipient often regurgitates it. As has been proven, it is not the way to go about it.

In terms of the language, we have mentioned the EU difficulties. The Minister touched on that. I am also aware that my colleagues, the former MEPs, Deputy Gallagher and Mr. Liam Aylward, and Mr. Brian Crowley MEP, submitted a parliamentary question in the European Parliament which found that the quota would be difficult to satisfy European legislation. I appreciate the Deputy has made attempts to address that in this Bill but I am not quite sure it is there yet.

Another difficulty I and my partner see with the Bill is the difficulty in defining what the definition means. I referenced it again while the Deputy was speaking. I listened carefully to a number of the points the Deputy made but I am not quite sure what the "distinguishing element of the culture of the island of Ireland" means. We can all guess what it means but as an eminent barrister, the Deputy will know a court might not always agree on something as nebulous as that. If an Irish artist was to perform opera, would that satisfy the definition?

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