Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I understand from what the Minister of State said that he regards the import of what I proposed in amendment No. 42 to section 48 has already been covered elsewhere. However, I am not satisfied that is the case. I ask the Minister of State to reconsider it.

I spoke on a previous occasion on this Bill about instances where there had not been an appropriate level of fairness and balance, particularly in the context of a referendum campaign. I gave the example of the abortion referendum in 2002. I had concerns about a broadcast on the RTE Radio 1 programme "Liveline", which sought to introduce into public debate a very emotive topic on the day prior to the moratorium on debate on the referendum. I am not saying that it applied on this occasion, but one wonders whether there can be a certain cynical intent sometimes in that one can have certain materials and debates broadcast, which might not be fair or impartial, as required by the codes, but in the context of a referendum or election campaign it would be too late to secure any significant redress. That is why the issue of urgency in terms of the compliance committee carrying out its task of investigating a complaint is a particularly relevant one. It is also why specific emphasis should be placed on that point. I ask the Minister of State on that basis to reconsider including a specific legislative requirement, as proposed in my amendment, that would impose an obligation on the compliance committee to deal with complaints with due regard to the urgency of the complaint where appropriate.