Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank Senator O'Reilly for and commend him on an excellent suite of amendments which I am pleased to support. As I said on Second Stage, when we talk about regulating the broadcasting sector and putting in place the necessary structures, we should give strong and intense regard to the common good. We should recognise that we are privileged to have broadcasting facilities which are capable of doing much good in the public interest but they are also capable of being exploited for poor purposes. An essential point is that broadcasting has great potential to build community. That is why I speak in support of the amendments.

It goes without saying the needs of people with disabilities should be to the fore and at the centre whenever we talk about the use of public resources and facilities, including broadcasting services. Everybody here will know people with a hearing impairment, for whom the provision of subtitles makes a huge difference and the absence of which causes huge frustration and them to wonder if anybody ever takes their views or needs into account. I am very happy to support the relevant amendment.

I refer to the question of mandatory Irish language programming. We have had huge successes in the story of broadcasting in the Irish language in recent years. TG4 should be commended for what it has achieved, not only for making programmes in the Irish language and adapting foreign programmes for transmission through Irish but also for getting the context right and adding other programming to the Irish broadcasting diet. "All-Ireland Gold", on which classic GAA matches are shown, is hugely popular.