Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 13:

In paragraph (b), after “Act” to insert the following:

“where the prescription of either publication in paragraph (a) or (b) above, prioritises the effective accessibility of the publication given factors including its circulation figures in the functional area of the authority concerned, the overall costs associated with purchasing or accessing it, and the quality of its archive and costs associated with accessing archive editions of the publication”.

In the context of our amendment to amendment No. 13 , one of the issues of concern, particularly in more rural parts of the country where local newspapers can have higher or lower concentrations of readership in certain areas, is to try to ensure that, for example, the newspaper with the highest level of circulation is the one that would be used. We could have a situation where advertisements for certain types of license applications, say, foreshore licenses, are placed in a newspaper that could have the lowest level of circulation or that could have a higher circulation in an adjoining area. It is, therefore, really about trying to make sure that when licence applications are, for example, being advertised, they are being advertised in the most specific way. This is not an academic issue. It has arisen in real cases, for example, in Inishowen, with regard to foreshore licences.

In the context of his response to my amendment to his amendment No. 597, I invite the Minister to explain a little more about what I think is a lack of clarity in the final line of the amendment, which includes the phrase "includes a statutory undertaker.” Who will that be? Who will appoint that person? Would it not be better, as our amendment outlines, if it was clearly defined that the Minister would have responsibility? I will wait for the Minister's responses before deciding whether I will come back in.

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