Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My apologies. I thought the Senator was going in a different direction.

I thank the Acting Chairperson, Senator Maria Byrne. As I said to her earlier, it is good to have her back in the House.

Coimisiún na Meán may specify a fee for application or review a request for a trusted flagger, vetted researchers or out-of-court dispute settlement bodies. The provision is intended to enable An Coimisiún to set nominal fees if it considers them necessary and they are only to cover costs for applications or review requests. It is not intended for it to be profit generating.

This is not a fee that would be unmanageable for organisations or researchers and the intention is that Coimisiún na Meán will act fairly in setting those fees. That is applied through the fee-making power in this Bill which is similar to other Bills.

The Senator's amendment is not, therefore, one I can accept. I agree with the intention but I am absolutely confident - indeed, Deputy Louise O'Reilly tabled a similar amendment on Committee Stage in the Dáil and I gave her the guarantee I am giving now - that the fees that are involved here are administrative only and will not be prohibitive.