Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

—to an editorial in the Irish Independent of 10 October which referred to the Minister's plans for "a Ceaucescu-like press council". It is important this issue is straightened out because the media are working themselves into a frenzy about the Minister's alleged plans to appoint a statutory press council. In the absence of a press council, I do not know how the Minister will clarify the matter but it is important he does so at the earliest opportunity and I wish him luck.

Speaking as a former journalist, one of the drawbacks of the media is that once they get the wrong end of the stick, they are disinclined to state they are wrong or even clarify the issue in question, which takes me neatly to the importance of a press council. What does the Minister or an ordinary person in the street do if he or she is misreported, misinterpreted or misunderstood and people are given a particular impression through media reports? One can take the matter to the newspapers' customer complaints desks, which are so minimal they border on an insult and are virtually a waste of time, although the media appears to believe they are a great idea. The resistance of the media, particularly the print media, to the establishment of even a self-appointed body is indicative of their basic resistance to any notion that anybody should tell them how to run their affairs.

In July 1998, I published a proposal to establish a voluntary press council. I am glad to note that the Minister has not given up on the idea of self-regulation. While I, too, have not given up on it, I am rapidly coming to that point, the reason being that the media have talked about it but done nothing. Despite numerous opportunities to establish their own body, they have not done so.

It is interesting, particularly in the context of the events of recent weeks, to read that the National Newspapers of Ireland and the National Union of Journalists want an independent body to be established which has legal backing. How can one have a non-statutory body with a statutory arm? This is an inconsistent position and I call on the NUJ, of which I am a member, and the National Newspapers of Ireland to get their thinking straight on this matter and decide exactly what objective they are pursuing.

When drawing up my proposal, I explored the issue in some depth and carefully examined the approach taken in other countries. The public, which is losing faith in the media, is one section of the population which does not appear to be given any consideration in this matter. People are conscious of the need for an independent and powerful media which investigates and reports on matters of considerable public interest. I will not even start to list examples of areas in which the media have successfully highlighted matters of considerable public concern. While we rely on the media for information on what is happening, this brings with it a major responsibility in terms of what is reported and, in particular, how it is reported.