Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I met with representatives of the independent broadcasters association who made a logical and cogent case for flexibility in this area from a practical point of view, which was stated by Senators O'Reilly and Norris. The suggestion made is for 20 minutes advertisement over two hours rather than ten minutes over one hour. A variation of this might be to allow some flexibility within the system, such as using eight minutes in one hour and carrying forward two minutes, averaging out over the broadcasting day as not more than ten minutes per hour. Perhaps the Minister can construct something on this for Report Stage.

Local radio has been a great success. Those radio stations have an obligation to produce a certain amount of current affairs programming during the day. Often, an interesting debate can take place involving people on the telephone. To break it can lose the audience or the thrust of an interesting part of the debate. We should avoid taking from the quality of the content. I do not see the necessity to be rigid. This case was strongly and fairly made by the independent broadcasters. As Senator Norris stated, the same principles apply to national radio.

The Minister may be disinclined to take this amendment on board but he should re-examine the matter. I cannot see good cogent arguments not to provide flexibility. It is all about controlling the overall advertising time rather than when it takes place during the day.