John Carty (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I also welcome the fact that this Bill is commencing its passage through Seanad Éireann.

The legislation proposed in the Broadcasting Bill 2008 is both regulatory and reforming. I congratulate the Minister and his staff on the proposals in the Bill. It is comprehensive and covers a large area, with every aspect of broadcasting included. In section 8(2) the Minister has set the number of members of the authority as nine, five of whom will be appointed by the Government on the nomination of the Minister and four of whom will be appointed by the Government on the nomination of the Minister with the Minister having regard to the advice of the joint Oireachtas committee. This is a new departure that will give the committee extra powers and extend its role. It is good that the joint committee may establish a panel for a contract awards committee and I welcome the fact that there will be an equal balance of men and women on this committee.

Section 9 clearly sets down who may be appointed to the authority or a statutory committee and the experience he or she must have in 12 areas including music and several other aspects of culture. This is to be welcomed as is the period of five years a person may serve on the committee or authority. A person may not serve more than two consecutive terms which is long enough because people with new ideas should be given a chance.

The area of complaints is well covered in section 47. It is only right that the public has a process to lodge a complaint, provided it is genuine, and in this section the onus is placed on the broadcaster to provide a proper code of practice. The compliance committee will investigate the complaint. The new right of reply proposed in the Bill allows that a person who feels his honour or reputation has been damaged by a factually incorrect assertion in a broadcast may be entitled to a right of reply. A right of reply will be broadcast by the broadcaster concerned and will correct the facts that were previously stated incorrectly. This will be beneficial to the complainant and the broadcaster as it will not be treated as an admission of liability in a defamation case and may help reduce damages in such a case. I strongly support my colleague, Senator Ó Murchú, who said he hopes this section will have teeth and will be honoured in the spirit it is presented in the Bill.

Other Members have stated that "Oireachtas Report" is relayed too late at night and I agree. Young people doing school exercises on the workings of Government could find such a programme of great benefit if it were relayed at a suitable time. It would also give the wider public a good insight on what happens in both Houses. Very few people stay up until between 11.30 p.m. and midnight to watch the programme and a more suitable time for it would be after the nine o'clock news. It seems that more time has been given to the American presidential primaries in the past six months than to our own political system. Irish people know more of what is happening between Democrats and Republicans in every state of America than of their own country because the coverage is shown at the right time. Broadcasts of our Houses or printed reports on local government meetings tend to be negative. The Bill refers to a live programme and it should be available to the public. As Senator Ó Murchú already said, this could allow viewers to see the legislative elements of what is done in both Houses rather than the soundbites and smart answers given during Question Time and the Order of Business.

Section 116, which has been addressed by other speakers, requires RTE to commission specified levels of television and radio programming from the independent production sector. Only 1.25% of moneys are guaranteed in this regard while independent television is guaranteed95%. A great deal of good work is done by the independent production sector and I ask the Minister to re-examine this section. Even over a five year period he could increase the level of moneys to 5% from 1.25%.

I would like to take this opportunity to recognise the work done by TG4 over the years. I wish that station well because we would not receive coverage of certain football matches and so on were it not for TG4.