Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am trying to avoid legislative work here but it seems to me that there is a lacuna in our law. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, seems unwilling to take action against Communicorp which has recently made a decision that certain members of the media, namely Mr. Tom Lyons and Mr. Ian Kehoe from currency.ie will be restricted from taking part in any radio programmes on its stations. It is similar to the decision taken two years ago in response to an article by Fintan O'Toole which saw journalists from The Irish Timesbanned from the same stations. The recent case is, they say, because of commercial rivalry. My sense, having talked to every grouping in the House today, is that every party is in agreement that this is egregious and has a poor effect on our democracy. We need a free press that is open to debate and allows different voices to be heard. Whether it is for commercial reasons, an editorial view or the fact that a certain owner might not like what is written in a newspaper, to ban journalists from radio stations is not what we want. In order to avoid legislation, I ask the Taoiseach to join the other groupings and leaders in this House in writing a letter to Communicorp asking it to reverse the decision in both cases and to stand up for press freedom. I am keen to hear the Taoiseach's views on that.

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