Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I will confine myself to two specific points. I was not completely supportive of the earlier proposition of the amendment by Senator Mullen. However, he made a point which struck a chord with me. Some of these advertisements take advantage of vulnerable people. This is incontrovertible. In the Bill, the Minister has outlined that we will have a specific prohibition on advertising certain foods which target children. We will do this because it is against the interests of the child and children are vulnerable and need protection.

With regard to the advertisement of sex services, I started with the view that adults can make choices for themselves and have entitlement to do so. However, this loses sight of the fact that some sections of society are extremely vulnerable and at certain stages of their lives people may be susceptible to this. I have come across people who accumulated substantial bills in this area because when they were at a low ebb it seemed like a comfort or escape and they had no one else to talk to. As a consequence they were taken advantage of. There is no doubt that this happens. If we have an obligation, it is to protect the vulnerable in society. The Minister might usefully examine this area to see whether there is an element of truth in what was said in this regard and introduce an element of protection, without necessarily having total prohibition.

With regard to amendment No. 33 and the inclusion of the word "balanced", I probably did not make myself clear when I spoke earlier. I intended to put a question to the Minister to elicit a response because this is an important point. I do not fully support the point made by Senator Mullen that we must add the word "balanced" with regard to individual programmes. A requirement already exists for them to be objective and impartial and when it comes to current affairs and controversial matters that they be fair to all interests concerned. I welcome the inclusion of this in the Bill and compliment the Minister. It is a significant initiative.

Broadcasters are human beings like all of us. They have their prejudices and biases. They have issues and agendas which they want to promote. The producer and presenter can select a liberal or conservative topic and the participants in the discussion. In this selection process, the broadcasters can plough their prejudices even though the broadcast can come across as objective, impartial and balanced. This is the lacuna in the Bill. If we feel, as the Government obviously does as it included this clause, that we want matters to be presented in an objective and impartial way because this is the essence of public broadcasting then we need to extend this.

I suggest to Senator Mullen that the word "balanced" may be more appropriate in section 42(2)(f) rather than in sections 42(2)(a) and 42(2)(b). It stresses the desirability of maintaining the independence of editorial control over programme content. In exercising this independence there should be an obligation to be balanced. The question I wanted to put to the Minister earlier was whether he feels we need to extend it so that for the programme to be objective then the foundation stones upon which the programme is built must be balanced.