Vol. 428 No. 1
417 Ms F. Fitzgerald and Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht when he will introduce the new regulatory framework for broadcasting, as promised in the Programme for a Partnership Government 1993 to 1997, to include opportunities for the independent production sector to feed into the national station; and if the independents will be given any statutory rights in this matter.
As I have recently announced, I will be introducing legislative measures relating to broadcasting designed to address critically urgent details in the Programme for a Partnership Government. Included in these provisions, which I regard as the first step in a legislative package on broadcasting generally, will be measures requiring Radio Telefís Éireann to make £4 million in 1994, rising in stages to £10 million in 1998 and to twenty per cent of television expenditure in 1999 and thereafter, available for the commissioning of independently produced television programmes.
The Bill is being drafted and I hope to be in a position to present it to the Oireachtas in this session.
