Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for tabling the amendments. In respect of amendment No. 1, section 9D(1) of the Official Languages Act 2003 as amended provides that the name of a statutory body established on and from the commencement of section 4 of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 shall be in the Irish language. In advance of the commencement in section 4 of the 2021 Act, I decided that what was previously to be known as the media commission should be known as Coimisiún na Meán. This is given effect in section 6(1) of the Broadcasting Act 2009 as amended by section 7 of this Bill and reflects Government policy regarding the title of new statutory bodies. That section of the Act also provides that throughout the Act coimisiún na meán is referred to as "the Commission". This is an interpretative provision rather than a substantive one.However, I absolutely understand the intention behind amendment No. 1, namely, to delete all references to "Commission" and substitute the term "Coimisiún". Given the amendment as drafted may not give effect to that intention, I do not intend to accept the amendment. However, I am willing to consider the intention further in the context of Report Stage.

Similarly, amendment No. 6 would delete the term "Commissioner", as the Senator said, and replace it with the term "Coimisinéir" in section 2 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 as amended by section 3 of this Bill. Again, I understand the intention of the amendment is to require a commissioner to be known as a coimisinéir but am not sure the amendment as drafted would achieve that intention and, therefore, will not accept the amendment. I am willing to consider the intention further in the context of Report Stage. The issue is fundamentally a technical drafting issue and I am willing to bring it back on Report Stage.