Vol. 568 No. 1
740 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government if he intends to implement the 1999 recommendation of the Council of Europe on measures concerning media coverage of election campaigns and in particular in relation to opinion polls. [15791/03]
The Council of Europe recommendation referred to by the Deputy provides that the governments of member states should examine ways of ensuring respect for the principles of fairness, balance and impartiality in the coverage of election campaigns by the media and consider the adoption of measures to implement these principles in their domestic law or practice where appropriate and in accordance with constitutional law.
Irish electoral law does not provide for the regulation of the media during election campaigns. Moreover, the legislation provides that the limitation of election expenses shall not be construed to prevent or restrict the lawful publication of any matter in relation to an election in a newspaper or other publication or the broadcast of such matters by radio or television or the lawful expression of opinion on any matter of public interest by any person. Opinion polls are addressed in Irish electoral law only to exclude their cost from the calculation of election expenses by candidates if the polls are undertaken by or on behalf of candidates more than 60 days before polling day.
In regard to the broadcast media, the question of acceptance of political advertisements and political coverage in general is governed by the Broadcasting Acts, which are the responsibility of my colleague the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. I have no proposals to amend the electoral law in relation to media coverage.
