I propose:—"That the Committee agree with the Seanad in the following amendments:"
Before Section 6 a new section inserted as follows:—
Sub-section (6) of Section 5 of the Principal Act shall have effect subject to the following modifications, that is to say:—
(a) three members of the appeal board personally present shall form a quorum for the hearing of appeals;
(b) an appeal shall be re-heard whenever the majority mentioned in the said sub-section is less than three or the members present are equally divided;
(c) every re-hearing shall be in the presence of not less than five members of the appeal board.
In Section 6 (1), after paragraph (b) a new paragraph inserted as follows:—
"(c) regulate the procedure of the appeal board in relation to the hearing of appeals."
These were, in fact, official amendments and were inserted pursuant to an undertaking given to Deputy Magennis when the Bill was before the Dáil. Perhaps I ought to refer to one amendment which was not inserted, that was an amendment to secure that when the renter distributed advertisements or publicity matter to an exhibitor he should at the same time give a written guarantee that the Censor had not objected to their exhibition in public. In that connection I promised Deputy Magennis that I would consider the views that he had expressed and would take the opinion of the trade. On the 23rd of last month the Official Censor summoned a conference of representative renters and exhibitors, which passed a resolution stating that such a system would involve great difficulty to the trade. In view of that expression of opinion I did not think I would be justified in proceeding with that amendment. But the other two amendments, I think, embodied the views put forward by Deputy Magennis when the Bill was before the Dáil and they represent the fulfilment of undertakings given by me.
