Results 4,361-4,380 of 7,556 for speaker:Catherine Martin

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: I thank the Senators for their proposed amendments. Amendments Nos. 123 and 125 would specifically insert references to substitutes for breast milk or milk-based formulae into section 46N(5). This would make explicit the power of coimisiún na meán to prohibit commercial communications relating to infant and follow-on formulae in the context of media service codes. I recognise the...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: I thank the Senators for the points they have made. As set out in the Bill, I would expect that an coimisiún will have a strong role to play in providing for standards and practices to ensure that commercial communications protect the interests of the audience and, in particular, the interests of children. An coimisiún will do so through the making of binding media service codes....

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: I thank the Leader for requesting this opportunity. As she said, amendment No. 106 was not discussed in the Chamber. This amendment raises an important issue. Conversion therapy is an abhorrent practice and the programme for Government contains a commitment to legislate to ban that therapy. My colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: I do not intend to accept any of these amendments. Amendment No. 110 provides that the media service codes made under section 46N shall be subject to approval by the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media. I cannot accept this amendment because it would represent undue interference in the regulatory independence of the commission. It is a key principle that the...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: I still do not intend to accept the amendments. I am advised that amendments Nos. 109 and 111 would have the effect of limiting the discretion of the coimisiún in how and when it exercises its regulatory duties through the creation of media service codes.

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: I thank the Senator for bringing this amendment forward. I very much welcome the intent behind it. The amendment sets out that an coimisiún may, through media service codes, set air play quotas in relation to music content composed or performed by women or persons living on the island of Ireland. In this regard, I am strongly supportive of the promotion of Irish music on our...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: That is why I am taking the time with the officials to see what can be done. As I outlined in my response, we want to make sure if we bring anything forward that it does not have unnecessary implications and that what it is intended to do would happen. We need time to consider it and then we will come back to the House on Report Stage.

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: To clarify, I was addressing amendment No. 112. Senator Warfield's amendment was ruled out of order, which was nothing to do with either me or my officials. It is the Bills Office that ruled it out of order. In my reply, I was addressing amendment No. 112. Everything I do is in good faith. We want to be certain that any legislation would have its intended effect, so we are taking the...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: Amendment No. 114 would remove the requirement for media service codes to provide for standards and practice to ensure that audiences are protected from anything harmful or offensive. I cannot accept this amendment as I am of the view that the principles and policies set out in section 46N must reflect the need to protect audiences from harmful or offensive content being broadcast. This is,...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: Amendment No. 115 would delete lines 16 and 17 which read with "due sensitivity to the convictions or feelings of the audience" and substitute it with the phrase "due sensitivity to the subject matter and the audience". It is noted that the text that is proposed to be deleted and-or replaced reflects similar language in the extant Broadcasting Act which has not, to date, been flagged as an...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: Similar language is in the Broadcasting Act but to date that has not been flagged in any engagement my officials have had with the public or stakeholders. In regard to the text of the amendment, the subject matter at hand in this provision is set out in section 46N(2)(c) which states "that in programme material audiences are protected from anything harmful or offensive, and in particular...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: I thank Senator Higgins for raising her concerns in amendments Nos. 116, 117, 142 and 143 regarding the terminology used in the Bill. The term “physical, mental and moral development” is a transposition of the text of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive - for example, in Articles 6(B), 9, and 28(B). The use of that terminology is required to properly transpose the...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: I thank the Senator. It is not the intention of the section, as drafted, to preclude the provision of programme material related to sexual conduct for educational purposes, particularly on important topics such as consent, sexual health and relationships. Instead the provision intends to protect audiences, and children in particular, from sexual content that may be considered offensive or...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: I thank the Senator for tabling these amendments. Amendment No. 129 sets out several matters to which an coimisiún should have regard when making media service codes, while amendment No. 130 sets out that an coimisiún should have regard to section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 when making media service codes. The objective of media service codes is...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: Amendments Nos. 133 and 134 would have the effect of obliging the commission to prepare a report on the operation of the media service rules made under section 46O(5) of the Broadcasting Act, as amended by the Bill, on an annual basis. The requirement for review every three years, as proposed in the Bill, gives effect to Article 7.2 of the audiovisual media services directive. As the...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: I appreciate that the Senator sees the issue in terms of what is set out in the audiovisual media services directive. As regards the other amendments, as I stated, they are unnecessarily over-prescriptive for legislation and I will not, therefore, be accepting them.

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: On the three points, we have debated the first two in the last brief. The third point is an issue for the Bills Office, because I do not have any say over what is ruled out of order.

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: Section 11 of the Bill makes a number of amendments to section 48 of the Broadcasting Act 2009, primarily to extend the complaints process to video on-demand services. It is important that the complaints system operated by an coimisiún contains some provision to limit the time period to which complaints relate in order that an coimisiún is not receiving complaints relating to...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: As I said, amendment No. 140 would open up the complaints process to complaints relating to any broadcast made in the State as long as the complainant could group his or her complaint with a complaint made not more than 30 days after a separate broadcast. That is too wide and would just not be an effective use of the complaints procedure. I will not be accepting the amendment.

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 May 2022)

Catherine Martin: Similar to Senator Carrigy, I can see the merit of the amendment. However, I believe that the term “as soon as practicable” should be retained so as to avoid “30 days” becoming a standard time in which a complainant would be notified rather than an absolute limit. Although I do not accept the amendment today, I intend to return to the matter on Report Stage.