Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I heard the Minister's objection to the amendment but surely it is possible to either accept this amendment or change it to ensure it does not allow the situation to which the Minister referred whereby broadcasters could consciously and premeditatedly load advertising into a particular hour slot. Surely it is possible to legislate to allow for the situation whereby, in the interests of good quality broadcasting, one can, on an occasional or emergency basis, allow for a programme to run on and to make up the advertising time in the next hour, but not to allow broadcasters to market their advertising on that basis or to sell it at a particular price, based on such a commercial strategy. I would have thought it was a simple matter of drafting to allow for the exception, namely, not to stretch the principle to the point of absurdity but to legislate for the exception while making it clear this cannot become part of a commercial drive of the kind the Minister suggested, whereby there might be no advertising between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. and a glut of it between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. As I said already, I would have thought it was a drafting matter.

I was very interested to hear what the Minister said regarding the Irish film channel and I am a fan of what he is talking about. However, it prompts me to refer back to the heritage channel which, as some of my colleagues mentioned, was proposed in an amendment I tabled earlier. It seems the spirit the Minister is seeking to promote is a respectful focus on the small communities here. It is a very good idea to look out for niche groups and give them quality programming which stimulates and interests them. That is what I had in mind with the proposed heritage channel except that I argued that far too often we cater for niches who are politically influential or powerful from the point of view of advertisers. My suggestion regarding the heritage channel would, like the Minister's Irish film channel, be low cost to a considerable degree in that it would draw on the RTE archive. Also, it notes the fact that as people grow older — although it would not focus just on older people — they are more likely to watch television during the day but we easily forget their needs. The Bill as it stands does not even provide for consultation with older people. I welcome what the Minister of State said earlier regarding a possible review of section 96 providing for audience research and allowing for consultation with older people as well as children.

Given the Minister was not in the Chamber earlier, I would like to briefly revisit the subject of my proposed heritage channel. Broadcasting is a communications business and communication is complicated. The Minister did not give me any comfort that my proposal might be considered but the Irish Daily Mail reports his spokesman as saying that the Minister would examine the amendments with interest and investigate whether the new digital output would have capacity for the heritage channel. The Minister made my day. I had the second sausage on reading that. However, I am left wondering whether the Minister is really going to consider my proposal. I ask the Minister to revisit the issue, not only because he was not here during that section of the debate, but because the type of thing to which he is aspiring with the Irish film channel is exactly what the heritage channel would be all about. It would attend to the needs of different groups like tourists in Ireland, the Irish abroad and older viewers. I have visited people in nursing homes and wondered why they had to be subjected to "Judge Judy" or "The Bill". It is fine if it is their choice but surely we can have family-friendly viewing for nine, ten or eleven hours a day, drawing on archive material, our great cultural tradition and heritage of ceol traidisiúnta, dramaíocht, cláracha faisnéis and of course, putting on specific programmes directed towards the greying population. However, I am anxious not to ghettoise the proposal because such programming would be of interest to a much wider community than merely older people. I apologise for that little side bar intervention but I thought the Minister might like to make some reference to the matter, given how related it is to the spirit that animates his proposal regarding the Irish film channel.