Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I move amendment No. 27:

In page 43, lines 38 to 41, to delete subsection (4) and substitute the following:

"(4) A broadcaster shall not broadcast an advertisement which promotes the merits or otherwise of fortune-telling services, psychic services, palmistry or tarot card services.".

These amendments deal with a number of related areas. Amendments Nos. 27, 28 and 31, relate to section 41 and amendments Nos. 33 and 36 relate to section 42. Section 41 deals with advertising. My proposed amendment No. 27 deals with the broadcasting of advertisements which promote the merits or otherwise of fortune-telling services, psychic services, palmistry or tarot card services. Amendment No. 28 is related. Amendment No. 31 deals with the promotion of sex services. Amendment No. 36 deals with section 42 which deals with broadcasting codes and the area of sexually explicit advertising.

What I am proposing here is to delete a section of the Bill relating to religious advertising and to replace it with a proposed ban on the advertising of the kind I have described, promoting the merits or otherwise of fortune-telling services, psychic services, palmistry and tarot card services. My second amendment proposes to delete subsection 41(6) in light of the previous amendment proposed.

Subsection 41(4) currently provides that a broadcaster shall not broadcast an advertisement which addresses the issue of the merits or otherwise of adhering to any religious faith or belief or of becoming a member of any religion or religious organisation. This is qualified somewhat by subsection 41(6) which says that nothing in the aforementioned section would be read as preventing the broadcasting of a notice of the fact that a particular religious newspaper, magazine or periodical is available for sale or supply or that any event or ceremony associated with any particular religion, will take place.

I am proposing the deletion of the subsection which prohibits the broadcast of an advertisement addressing the issue of the merits or otherwise of adherence to or becoming a member of any religion. I am linking this with a proposed ban on advertisements which promote the merit or otherwise of fortune-telling services, etc., because the two are connected. Taken together — the presence of one ban and the absence of another — is not only very revealing of perhaps a certain mentality that as a society we have slipped into, but is also quite unjust when one considers the ramifications of it.

The ban on advertisements for membership of a religious organisation or becoming a member, made a lot of sense at a time when Irish society was more homogenous than it is today. The Constitution provides for freedom of expression and freedom of religion. We could see the advantage of such an exclusion of this kind of advertisement when we were a more homogenous society because people would find it rather difficult and it would be controversial to have advertisements of the kind that could proselytise.

I argue that the situation has changed; we live in a more heterogenous society. In light of what is now permitted to be advertised on television and radio, it is bizarre that we should still have such a ban. It is all the more bizarre when one considers that the State has set up a structure for dialogue with religious organisations and other faith-based and philosophical bodies, including humanists. There is a recognition of the public value of religious adherence. Despite the many controversies over the religious dimension of Irish society in recent years, few would deny the enormous contribution made, not just within the Catholic tradition but in all the traditions, by committed people of faith. I refer to the role of religious orders in the provision of education, health and other services in the State. It is not beyond argument, and people will courteously disagree on different aspects of what they have done, but by and large, the service to Irish society has been phenomenal.

Given the current situation, it is bizarre but one could probably have an advertisement on television for a book like The God Delusion, in which Richard Dawkins sets out to debunk religion but one cannot have an advertisement——