Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The Bill only deals with the development of policy on archiving, not getting an individual broadcaster to look after archiving. The idea was that it would be a boost for the independent broadcasting sector to start archiving its material. I have no wish to pour cold water on Senator Mooney's proposal but it would take a huge amount of the focus of the BCI if it were required to start archiving all the material of the broadcasters in the country. It would be a mammoth task and it would probably be necessary to have a specific archiving authority, which would have to be funded. Ultimately, the funding would have to come from the sector and this, in turn, would reduce the level of funding for actual broadcasting.

While I will bring it to the attention of the BCI and perhaps consider it in the context of the legislation on the BAI, I do not wish to raise any false hopes.