Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator Cassells's comments. I raised the fact that I have a problem with amendment No. 81 on Committee Stage. The amendment states "A broadcaster shall not broadcast ... an advertisement which seeks to promote speculative financial activities". We are all familiar with the advertisements saying that the value of a person's investment may go up or down. Banks and other financial institutions regularly offer what could be referred to as speculative financial activities. I do not have a problem with people taking the opportunity to invest in a particular product, which could include stocks or shares, if they so wish, provided that they are aware that the value of their investment may go up or down. There is a broader question here which comes back to discussions we had earlier on media and digital literacy. That is why I believe that by banning such advertisements, in many ways we would be driving a lot more of it into the dark web. I do not want to get into a debate around cryptocurrencies and the underlying technologies. That is why there is a response on the part of central banks, including the European Central Bank, ECB. I do not believe that we should be seeking to ban advertising around financial products. Part of the challenge here is around the questions that we talked about earlier on digital and media literacy. As I have said previously and as Senator Cassells has outlined, what the Minister did with the earlier amendments, by ensuring that Departments co-ordinate their activity and the relevant agencies, makes a lot of sense.