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

Senators will recall that during the debate in the Seanad, I signalled that "party political programme" was intended to have the same meaning as "party political broadcast", namely, the short programmes carried on our public service broadcaster during electoral periods for the purpose of promoting a registered political party. The term "programme" was used in lieu of the term "broadcast" to ensure it encompassed both broadcasts broadcast by broadcasters and programmes made available by a relevant media service provider. It was to ensure it covered both party political broadcasts on RTÉ 1 and on the RTÉ Player. Senators and a number of stakeholders, including RTÉ and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, sought clarity in the Bill that "party political programme" had essentially the same meaning as "party political broadcast". Given the importance of providing clarity on this matter, I introduced amendments on Committee Stage in the Dáil to provide for a definition of "party political programme" in the Bill. I also introduced amendment No. 53 to provide that media service codes which will apply to broadcasting and video on-demand services may provide that party political programmes may only be available at specified times. Currently, party political broadcasts are only made available during electoral periods. This provision is intended to make explicit coimisiún na meán's authority to specify the timing of party political programmes. The intention is that these times shall continue to be during electoral periods. However, to provide flexibility, the provision refers to "specified times" rather than "electoral periods" to allow coimisiún na meán adapt to any change in policy in this regard.

I also introduced amendment No. 50 to clarify the meaning of a phrase regarding not giving unfair preference to any political party in respect of the allocation of broadcasting time or the positioning of content in a catalogue.