Vol. 549 No. 4
14 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands if she has powers under the relevant EU directives to reserve the televising of events of national importance to free-to-air broadcasters; and her plans to compensate those sporting bodies whose events are listed and so reserved for loss of commercial income, particularly the GAA. [7046/02]
Earlier today, in my reply to Priority Question No. 12, I outlined the powers given to me under the Broadcasting (Major Events Television Coverage) Act, 1999, and I do not propose to repeat the information given in that reply.
The Deputy has asked what my plans are with regard to the payment of compensation to sports organisations whose events may be designated and refers in particular to the GAA. I want to make it clear that I have no such plans. The acquisition by broadcasters of the rights to sporting events, is in the first place, a commercial relationship between the broadcaster and the holder of the rights in question. As I said in my earlier reply, some sporting organisations, including the GAA, have argued against designation of the major events they organise on the basis that designation could impact negatively on their finances and consequently on the development of their games, particularly at club level. In deciding what events should be designated, due consideration must be given to the positions advanced by the sporting organisations who own the television rights to the events. In addition, consideration must be given to the rights of the people of Ireland to continue to have access, through free-to-air television, to major events that have a special general resonance for them.
I reject the Deputy's suggestion that the way to address the concerns of the sporting organisations is for the State to make payments to them in cases where events are designated.
The matter raised by the Deputy highlights the complexity of drawing up a list of events. I intend to continue to progress the process in an appropriate, consultative and democratic manner.
Does the Minister agree that designation is almost the same as abrogating the rights to property of the sporting organisations here? It is almost the equivalent of a compulsory purchase order. We see what happens in respect of the National Roads Authority when land has to be purchased for motorways and so on. The real problem is compensation because if certain events are designated, it will impact severely on the sporting bodies. For instance, in the UK, does the Minister agree that every premiership match that is shown by Sky Television is at a cost of £7 million? Has the Minister anything at all to offer sporting organisations, particularly the GAA, FAI and IRFU, that will have to give up these rights eventually when the Minister gets around to it without compensation or remuneration of any kind.
There certainly seems to be a dichotomy in the views of Deputies O'Shea and McGinley on this matter. Deputy O'Shea seems to suggest that we should go ahead regardless of whether the organisations can come to an agreement with the Minister of the day. Deputy McGinley refers to the fact that this is so difficult that it is like a compulsory purchase order. The views seem to be contradictory but, again, it demonstrates the complexity of this matter.
If an event on an Irish list would simply guarantee that the game would be made available to an Irish free-to-air broadcaster at a price to be negotiated between the broadcaster and the broadcaster who holds the exclusive rights to the game, it is quite possible that the price would still be prohibitive because it is a question of market value, as the Deputy will know from the legislation that has already been printed and is now the 1999 Act. Accordingly, there is no guarantee that the game could be shown live unless an agreement could be made between the broadcaster itself and the broadcaster who holds the exclusive rights to that game.
It is a very complex issue. Contrary to what Deputy O'Shea has said, the only way forward is to continue to work to get the kind of agreement I would wish for. Once that is achieved, then we can draw up the list of events. However, as has already been shown in other countries, particularly Denmark, as I highlighted today, there have been very serious difficulties. Only four EU states have been able to produce a list, which demonstrates the complexity that exists in trying to find agreement. As I said in my reply to the initial question on this matter, there is no point in drawing up a list willy-nilly and having that legally challenged. I fear that is what would happen if consultation could not bring about a result in this regard.
The enabling legislation is in place for the past three years. Can the Minister let us know if she has had any direct meetings with the interests involved in that time to try sort out this problem? I am not saying it is not difficult – it is. Perhaps the Minister should be involved and have discussions with the various interests to resolve the issue once and for all. We do not want to have an annual repetition of the deprivation of this country of the last international rugby match between England and Ireland.
I referred to the fact that the British public was not in a position – even though it had a B list – to look at that match live. Obviously, I am extremely interested in the matter because it was I, with the support of the Government, who brought this legislation to fruition in the first place.
In response to Deputy McGinley's question, I have met different groups. I assure him that those meetings and the consultations will be ongoing.
