John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 622: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that any person under 18 years of age may purchase a ticket at a cinema multiple for a film for children, present it to the attendant at the entrance and once inside view an adult film; the plans he intends to implement to address this matter; if his attention has further been drawn to the fact that once certified, films later become available in video shops and under 18 year olds have ways and means of viewing them; if explicit hard-core sexually indecent films, the certification of which will also lead them to being made available in video shops will not be shown on cinema screen; the steps he will take to enable members of the public to appeal a censor's decision to certify a film which is indecent within the terms of the law; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22822/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Under Section 6(2) of the Censorship of Films Act 1923, it is an offence to knowingly exhibit in public a film in the presence of any person who is not a member of the class in whose presence such a film is authorised to be exhibited. The staff of the film censor's office includes an inspector, one of whose duties includes visiting cinemas to ensure compliance with the aforementioned Act. Should the Deputy have specific examples of offences having been committed he should bring them to the attention of the relevant authorities.

With regard to the Deputy's concerns about certain films being made available in video shops, following their certification for public display, the position is that no film shall be exhibited in public in the first instance, unless it is certified as fit for public examination by the film censor. While independent in the exercise of his official functions, the relevant legislation provides for the prohibition of films where the film censor forms the opinion that such a film or part thereof is unfit for general exhibition by reason of its being obscene or blasphemous or because its exhibition in public would be subversive of public morality.

The legislation does not provide for an appeal by a member of the general public against a certification decision in respect of a particular film. However, the film censor has in place a range of mechanisms which enable parents and others to express their views on film classification and certification.

These include: the holding of regular focus group consultations — comprising parents, educators, students, psychologists, psychiatrists, other experts and representative organisations, for example, the National Parents Council; the establishment of a website, www.ifco.ie, which I launched on 3 September, 2004 and which provides consumer advice to parents on the content of every film; and a major national survey of parents carried out by Lansdowne Market Research as well as a survey on adolescent attitudes to film classification.

The Deputy may be interested in the results of the survey of parents, in which two out of three parents said they regularly agreed with the film censor's classification. Of the one in three who said that they sometimes disagree with the classifications, a majority felt that they were too strict.