Seanad debates

Wednesday, 4 June 2008

Broadcasting Bill 2008: Committee Stage

 

2:00 pm

Photo of Paul BradfordPaul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I second Senator O'Reilly's amendment. I referred to this matter on Second Stage last week. In th past five or six years I have raised this matter of subtitling on a number of occasions in both Houses. From the point of view of those who suffer from impaired hearing, adequate subtitling of television programmes gives them an opportunity to follow programmes, to derive maximum enjoyment from television and to assist them in their knowledge of news and current affairs. I presume it is either a financial or technological issue or both but the current quality of subtitling of news, current affairs and live coverage of sporting events leaves much to be desired.

I reiterate what I said on Second Stage as a challenge to all of us. If a person with full hearing, which would be most Members, were to turn down the volume of the news, "Prime Time" or a sporting programme and attempt to follow the programme from the subtitling service, he or she would find it a very inadequate presentation. From the news perspective, the subtitles can be three, four or five seconds behind the story and it is often worse in a sporting programme. This is not a good enough service and neither is it fair to people who suffer from hearing problems. We must put maximum pressure on the broadcasters to improve the subtitling service significantly.

Many of those who are hearing impaired are elderly and most elderly people have a great interest in news and current affairs. I appreciate the live elements of the news may cause a difficulty for subtitling but some of the news programming is prerecorded and there should be no excuse for the absence of subtitling in those parts of the programmes.

There should be a clear signal of intent from the Oireachtas that we want significant improvement in the subtitling service. This amendment would be a clear statement that we are reaching out to all those who have hearing difficulties and require the sign language service. In this era of modern technology and communications and digital television by which we can see a spacecraft landing on Mars, it is not too much to expect that we would have a decent quality of subtitling. I commend RTE on its subtitling and I contrast its efforts with those of TV3 where, as far as I know, apart from some of the imported British programmes, the subtitling service is non-existent. This legislation provides an opportunity to lay down minimum standards for a high quality service from the broadcasters. I await the Minister's positive response because the day will come for all of us in this House and for our friends and families when our hearing may not be 100% and when an adequate, proper, sufficient subtitling service will enhance quality of life and the enjoyment of television. Will the Minister accept this amendment because its provisions will be of long-term assistance to a great many people?

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