Brendan Ryan (Labour)

The Labour Party broadly supported the Broadcasting Bill 2008 under which the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland was set up. The authority's objectives are to ensure the number and categories of broadcasting services made available in the State best serve the needs of the people of the island of Ireland, bearing in mind their languages, traditions and religious, ethnic and cultural diversity; to ensure democratic values enshrined in the Constitution, especially those relating to rightful liberty of expression, are upheld; and to provide for open and pluralistic broadcasting services. These are laudable objectives, but they will not be easily achieved, particularly the first one. A set of actions and annual targets relating to each objective must be laid down. An annual performance review of each target is also needed.

Senator Ó Brolcháin referred to complaints which must be reviewed in a formal way at least quarterly, with the results of reviews being made available at least annually. Complaints against the board must not be looked at in a negative way and treated as a chore, but must be looked at in a more positive manner as a means to bring about improvements.

Most people are interested in what is happening in the world, but they are even more interested in what is happening in their own street or town. In that context, local radio is of real importance to the communities up and down the country. The media industry is constantly changing. The technological advances of the last few years alone have changed the face of the industry. Now people can get their news instantly and from many and varied sources, and the Internet is very much part of that scenario. The clever small market radio station operator has to be even more inventive today in connecting with listeners and in generating and reporting news through a whole variety of methods. These changes and advances make it ever more challenging for small local radio stations to compete in an already competitive market. The task of the BAI should be to ensure that all broadcasters have a fair crack of the whip and this is an onerous responsibility.

I welcome the fact that as a result of considerable political pressure, there is to be a major reduction in the charges on local radio stations under the broadcasting levy scheme. The budget for the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland is to be reduced from €7.6 million to €6 million, which will lead to an easing of the burden on smaller local radio stations. However, this does not deal with the continuing inequity where bigger broadcasters pay proportionately less than the smaller ones. We must have a new statutory instrument before the end of the year to address this inequity.

This scheme was the subject of great deal of controversy when the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, was forced to push it through the Oireachtas after cross-party opposition expressed by all members of the Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. Labour will be pushing for full scrutiny of the budget which has been drawn up in order to ensure proper and efficient regulation of the broadcasting sector.

While the BAI has to be independent in its functioning, it is important that it should operate in an open and transparent way. In that context, it is vital that the Minister be accountable to both Houses of the Oireachtas for how this body operates and spends its budget. We cannot allow any room for another FÁS saga. There must be full accountability. That is for certain.

I welcome the fact the BAI published the revised children's commercial communications code on 11 May. I understand all advertising, sponsorship, tele-shopping and product placement that are of particular interest to children and broadcast during children's programmes will be required to comply from 1 June. I am glad to note the code covers the scheduling, pester power and manipulation, but I will reserve my judgment until we see it being enforced and what teeth it has in practice.

I particularly welcome the ban on sexualisation of children, a problem which recently came to the fore when Marks and Spencer and Primark were advertising inappropriate clothing for young girls. It is inappropriate for advertisers to target children, particularly in terms of fast food, which may possibly be injurious to their well-being. However, in my view, it should go beyond prohibiting the advertising of junk food and cover other forms of advertising targeted at and focused on children. We should ensure as legislators that RTE and other Irish broadcasters provide a number of periods of children's programming during the day which are advert free, as happens in other jurisdictions.

I said before in this House that we know that advertising targeted at children works. It is considered to be lucrative in the advertising industry. Practically all the top advertising agencies today have children's divisions with the obvious objective of targeting this group of very vulnerable citizens. In many cases children under the age of 12 will not be able to recognise traditional advertising as opposed to routine programming or its sales-promoting nature. Children are entitled to a childhood free from commercial pressures. I am disappointed to hear from the Minister today that the functioning of the board will be restricted, initially, by a lack of human resources due to the recruitment embargo, and that one of the issues as regards the initial formation of strategy is to be delayed. His reference to the use of consultants, to overcome the problem, at such an early stage in the life of the board is somewhat worrying. Also, his announcement that there is to be a self-regulatory regime in place is another disappointment. In my view we have seen enough of such non-regulation.

Finally, I wish to mention a study published last November, carried out by Dr. Kevin Rafter, and funded under the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland's media research scheme, entitled Political Advertising: the Regulatory Position and the Public View. The study's recommendations stated political parties and other groups should be given "greater freedom to publicise their policies and agendas on television and radio, and that consideration should be given to having defined advertising slots which are broadcast at certain times in a daily schedule and contain only advertisements of a political nature".

The report's recommendations stated the public will need reassurance, as Senator Ó Brolcháin mentioned, to the effect that the system ensures those with access to resources do not disproportionately benefit under a new regime. That is very important. Central to any legislative and regulatory change must be the principle of equity of access to public discourse on the airwaves. The report also mentioned religious advertising, and I understand the BAI is to prepare guidelines to oversee the regulation of religious advertising on Irish television and radio. I understand we are still awaiting these guidelines and I look forward to their publication.

I welcome the recommendations referred to in the report and believe there might be merit in having a debate in this House on the content and recommendations of that report.