Brendan Kenneally (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the introduction of the Broadcasting (Funding) Bill 2003, which is a further step in the evolution of broadcasting in this country. I am wholeheartedly in favour of the intent of this Bill. I welcome that there is to be a fund which will ensure that our culture is given an additional chance of survival and that independent broadcasters and radio stations will be given an incentive to make programmes which may not have mainstream content but which, in themselves, are culturally valuable and will give satisfaction to those who are interested in seeing our culture survive.

The first major step in the liberalisation of the radio market was taken with passing of the Radio and Television Act 1988, a move which removed RTE's traditional monopoly of the airwaves. The 1988 Act was a seminal piece of legislation in Irish media history. It provided the ground rules for the introduction of commercial broadcasting of both radio and television and paved the way forward for local radio in particular to address the core local audience within a clearly defined geographical space.