Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Labour Party group for bringing forward the amendment. I am aware of the work done by former Deputy, Willie Penrose, in the area who brought forward an alternative Bill in the last term. We put it on the Order Paper because of the concerns about the quota and the impact of EU rules on defining Irish music. We copied the French example and focused specifically on Irish language works. Obviously there is a smaller percentage on that proposal but we thought it might encourage artists to create music through the Irish language and, therefore, keep royalties in this country. That proposal is on the back of any quota. For this Bill, we did not propose that but we proposed in amendment No. 73 that the commission could bring forward a report "detailing the breakdown of representation in terms of gender, race, and ethnicity, on television and radio". That amendment does not concern the quota at hand but it does concern talent.

Senator Malcolm Byrne mentioned radio and FM broadcasting, which I think will be around for a very long time, and that is underpinned by a licensing system and legislation here in these Houses. All of us are conscious of their competition in terms of music and video streaming, While linear television broadcasting might eventually be replaced by streaming over the Internet, radio and the licensing system will be around for a very long time.

This year many festivals will have a more local line-up. That will make a difference in terms of gender balance and the income from artists. Similarly, that situation applies to on-air talent. As Senator Sherlock mentioned, stations are committed to improving gender representation in their playlists but I think that the commission needs to study that aspect. I was disappointment that Sinn Féin's amendment No. 73 was ruled out of order on the basis of excessive cost to the Exchequer. Calling on the commission or legislating for the commission to report on these issues is the least that we could have expected but, unfortunately, the amendment was ruled out of order.

I commend the Why Not Her? collective campaign that has compiled data in recent years that shows 85% of artists in the top 100 chart were male, which is a huge figure in terms of radio playlists. I know that in Britain female acts make up 20% of the top 50 British artists played and non-binary artists, who are represented by Sam Smith, made up 2%. We all know that radio stations are one of few places where artists can make money from royalties. So if there is unconscious bias in the industry, or in the radio playlists, then coimisiún na meán should explore that aspect whether we outline it in legislation or not.

I confirm that I support the amendment. I apologise for going around the houses with my comments but I was trying to speak to the many amendments that have been ruled out of order. I also had expected to speak to section 31 that deals with reporting.