Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I fully endorse the comments made earlier by Senator O'Toole and others on the coverage of this House. In this morning's Irish Independent, a lengthy editorial criticised the privacy Bill but welcomed the new defamation Bill that I hope the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, will bring before this House in the autumn. Perhaps the Leader will indicate when we can expect the Bill to come before the House. The point was made that the media is part of democracy also. I endorse what has been said. I wish the Irish Independent would devote a little of its space to the activities of this House, rather than constantly haranguing it for not being in session.

A debate on the media is currently under way and I ask the Leader to allow the House to have some input into that debate in the autumn. The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland is currently inviting submissions on the establishment of a code of conduct for advertising standards on television. It is astonishing that according to the statistics, 50% of Irish viewing is on channels that originate outside of this country and, therefore, is not subject to regulation, whereas the Irish based stations are subject to regulation. This anomaly is leading to a point where a significant amount of advertising is directed specifically at children before what is known as the watershed period.

I ask that this House be allowed an opportunity to debate this exceptionally important issue, one specific aspect of which is the growing crisis of obesity among young people. This arises because they are constantly and actively encouraged to eat the junk food they see advertised on television.