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

I thank Senator Ruane for her amendment regarding a role for the Oireachtas joint committee in requesting that an coimisiún consider making a proposal for a new category of harmful online content. As it stands, the Bill provides at section 44 - inserting sections 139B and 139C into the Broadcasting Act 2009 - that it is within an coimisiún's sole discretion as to whether it considers making a proposal to the Minister for a further category of harmful online content. No specific role is provided for the Minister, the Government or indeed the Oireachtas joint committee at that point of the process. The reason for this was to safeguard the independence of an coimisiún, particularly regarding a matter as sensitive as proposals for further categories of harmful online content, and to ensure that the process for making a proposal under these provisions was separated from the political process. In this regard, the directive sets a high bar regarding the independence of regulatory bodies and requires member states to ensure that they are both legally distinct from the government and functionally independent of their respective governments and of any other public or private body. In light of these considerations, I am not proposing to accept this amendment.