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

Section 11 of the Bill makes a number of amendments to section 48 of the Broadcasting Act 2009, primarily to extend the complaints process to video on-demand services. It is important that the complaints system operated by an coimisiún contains some provision to limit the time period to which complaints relate in order that an coimisiún is not receiving complaints relating to broadcasts that took place years prior to the complaints. That is why section 11 of the Bill maintains the existing provision in section 48 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 that a complaint must be made not more than 30 days after a broadcast in the first instance.

I cannot accept amendment No. 140, as it would have the effect of enabling a complainant to complain about a broadcast for months or even years in the past, as long as the complainant groups the complaint with a complaint about a more recent broadcast. Addressing historical complaints about broadcasts from years gone by would not be the most effective use of the complaints procedure.