Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I thank the Members for their very considered contributions to today's discussions. Senator Hayes told me to take events on their tide and I intend in the next few weeks to bring to Government the finalised version of the proposed defamation Bill which will contain provision for a press council along with many of the elements mentioned today as necessary reforms of our law of defamation.

Time constraints do not allow me to reply in detail to some of the questions raised. Many good points were made in the debate today. In particular I echo the general point courageously made by Senator Ryan that there is a tendency among some elements of the media, though by no means all, to denigrate politics as an activity and to suggest that journalists and columnists are by implication morally superior to elected politicians. I will not draw a relative graph showing where people stand on that scale but politicians are not inferior to those who write about them. We are not below journalists. I will not put the case any further than that.

Members of both Houses have absolute privilege. If I knew the truth, I could speak of the exact state of the marriage of any journalist, or what his or her children did or did not do, or whether he or she were a drug addict or a drunk. I could do any of those things and no one outside these Houses could call me to book. We have our internal disciplinary systems which, if I took the action spoken of, would leave me subject to censure from within, but there would be no redress for anyone outside the Houses if I levelled that kind of abuse at a person or told an uncomfortable truth about anyone in the media world.

I say that only to emphasise the point that, in the final analysis, everyone, even a politician or a journalist, is human. There are no superhumans, supermen or superwomen in our society. We are all humans. The fact that people aspire to be statesmen — or editors — does not give them any greater or lesser humanity on that account. We must have a system which is fair to those who engage in politics because there is no system which does not involve humans as the actors in the democratic process. Senator Ryan is right. Those who constantly attack and denigrate participants in the political process should at least admit that they would probably make a far worse fist of it themselves if they were doing the work. Some people have driven newspapers and magazines into the ground financially, yet tell us they know how the country should be run. I will not elaborate but everyone knows what I am talking about. Most of the columnists who comment on political matters must admit that they would probably be as good, yet probably no better, than ourselves. There is no point in tearing everything down if one is not prepared to put something up in its place. I invite every journalist in Ireland who thinks he or she would be better than the public representatives in Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann at doing their jobs to stand, seek election and show the colour of their money.

Although tough things have been said today, our media in Ireland, both broadcast and print, are very good indeed. They are media of which generally we should be proud. Our newspapers are readable. Generally speaking they do not accord with the standards identified as a danger by some of the contributors to this debate. We are well served by our media. From time to time some of us find certain of their stances irritating, or we simply do not agree with them. However, the same applies to them. They find what politicians do irritating on some occasions or simply do not agree with them. Let us remember that this is not a dog-eat-dog situation. As Senator Kett said, the media generally and the democratic institutions need each other since one would not be there without the other. Let the media remember that they would not exist if we were not a democracy or if people such as the Members and I did not participate. They would not be there if some general or some other ideologue were sitting behind a desk running Ireland as a dictatorship. Likewise, let politicians remember that we would not be here and there would be no democracy if there were not free media. It is a relationship in which there has to be give and take and we must all be honest and truthful about it.

Listening to Senator Ryan, I was struck that we have reached the point where, via the Internet, every single speech of mine, Senator Kett or Senator Terry is available to anyone who wishes to see it in their home. In a few hours anyone will be able to view the proceedings of this House in their home, consider it, study it and write about it. Any speech that anyone makes at a branch or cumann meeting or at a public event can be posted on an Internet site and anyone can see it. We therefore live in a world in which the facts — if speeches are to be regarded as such — are now available to everyone. The newspapers are thus not a means for people to find out exactly what happened in an institution yesterday; we have gone past that point. If one wants to know what happened yesterday in the Dáil, one should not read one's newspaper but press one's buttons to get through to the Internet. There is no such thing as a newspaper without an agenda. To ignore today's debate in this House and publish in its place a story on medical cards, for example, is a choice. Now that we all live in this Internet world where all speeches and reports are available, deciding what should be in a newspaper is an agenda-driven activity that characterises each publication.

We have gone beyond all the old classic arguments that the media are the only way for people to gain access to the facts. They have a different role. They are individual in the sense that they have styles, attitudes, agendas, messages, values and slants on issues one way or another. Therefore, the notion that they are somehow different or purely the product of totally impartial reporters who give us an account of everything that happens is for the birds. Things have moved on from there and some of the political discussion may not yet have caught up with that fact. Our media, and particularly our print media, are not simply a massive Internet through which one can find out anything one wishes. They are different, being products that must sell themselves and attract advertisers and readers. They are set up for specific purposes, whether to unite Ireland or support liberal values, and all have their slants, left-wing or right-wing.

In that context, whatever legislation we pass must recognise that free and independent media are a cornerstone of Irish democracy. I will not forget that point. I see a few people who imagine that I am somehow itching to control the media, when nothing could be further from my mind.