Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding the Broadcasting Bill; when it will be published; if he is in favour of maintaining the RTÉ authority; if this is no longer the case, his reasoning for same; the changes the Broadcasting Bill will make to the licence fee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35622/07]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The draft general scheme of the Broadcasting Bill was submitted to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in September 2006 for the purposes of public consultation under the eConsultation initiative.

The approach adopted in the draft general scheme of the Broadcasting Bill was as follows:

To establish a single content regulator for commercial, community and public service broadcasters to be known as the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) and encompassing the existing regulatory functions of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, the Broadcasting Complaints Commission and the RTÉ Authority.

To ensure the availability of adequate and proportionate enforcement instruments to the BAI.

To provide that the BAI will be funded primarily by a sectoral levy applicable to all broadcasters.

To provide greater transparency as regards the award of broadcasting contracts.

To establish RTÉ and Teilifís na Gaeilge as companies limited by guarantee.

To amend the existing public service remit of RTÉ and Teilifís na Gaeilge to incorporate the use of new web-based technologies in delivering on their mandates.

To provide a statutory mechanism for the oversight of public funding to RTÉ and Teilifís na Gaeilge.

To establish a basis for the television licence that is separate and distinct from wireless telegraphy legislation.

To provide a developed right of reply to persons whose reputation and good name have been damaged by an assertion of incorrect facts in a television or radio programme.

The Joint Oireachtas Committee published its conclusions on the draft general scheme in April 2007. It is proposed to publish the consequent Broadcasting Bill in the first quarter of 2008 having considered the Joint Oireachtas Committee's conclusions on the outcome of the eConsultation process, with a view to ensuring the appropriate regulatory and organisational structures for the growth and development of public service, commercial and community broadcasting in Ireland.