It is proposed to take Nos. 1 and 2. It is proposed to adjourn the debate on No. 1 at 1 o'clock, to adjourn for lunch between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. and to conclude business by 4 p.m. to allow for the Adjournment debate.
Order of Business.
Would it be possible to conclude No. 1 by 1 o'clock? If not, will the House agree to forego the lunch break in order to conclude Second Stage.
Before the Acting Leader of the House replies I would like to make a special appeal to the Director General of RTE, Mr. Finn, to continue broadcasting from this House. It was an all-party agreement and it has gone well. All Senators know that next week the Dáil will resume. We are in rather stirring times. I have a feeling that the coverage will be transferred from here to the Dáil. I would make a direct appeal to Mr. T. V. Finn as Director General of RTE, even if he has to extend the time of broadcasting, to at least give five minutes to broadcasting of debates from this House. The last couple of weeks of broadcasting has shown that there is a high level of debate on all legislation, and committee and EC reports in the Seanad. I make a direct appeal to him not to forget us now that the other stirring House will be resuming after the summer recess.
We all had reservations and worries about edited recording of debates. I would like to pay tribute to the staff and to all who participated in the broadcasting of the Seanad debates for the past few weeks. I hope that message will be conveyed to the Director General of RTE.
I did not have the opportunity until last night of hearing the edited recording of debates in this House. Great work is being done by RTE. The new programme that is now being run each night following the debate is by far the best coverage this House is getting from any medium, in print or otherwise. A special tribute is due to the RTE staff engaged in this work for the manner in which this new production is going out on the air. I would like to join with the Leas-Chathaoirleach in her remarks, not just about the success of this programme but also in her appeal to the Director General of RTE to see to it that this House is properly catered for in the period ahead when the Dáil reassembles.
Since the matter has been raised I think that it is appropriate to pass a few remarks about the coverage of the Seanad debates.
This is completely out of order.
I appreciate the hard work that has been done by the press people in the gallery each day. I am afraid that the work they do is decimated by the time it is reported. It does not get to the press in a lot of cases. The editors do not seem to have much regard for this House but they are very quick to criticise this House and they are very quick to take up the call to have this House abolished. Since the matter has been raised compliments must be paid to the patience of the members of the press here who day after day come in here and work very hard. Then when we pick up the newspapers the following morning there is not one mention of the business of the Seanad.
I would like to join with Senator Honan in her remarks but I would go further than Senator Honan. I think that the Senator was very generous when she asked for only five minutes. I would ask for equal coverage with the Dáil. The ten minutes we have now is the least we should have irrespective of what goes on in the Dáil. I would agree with Senator Lanigan that the press reporters in this House should have our sympathy. I have the greatest sympathy in the world for them because I have seen them come in at the start of business and stay in until the close of business seven or eight hours later. When one reads the newspapers the following day there is not one line about the Seanad in them. The newspaper editors should take note of that.
I would like to add my voice to what has been said here and to endorse the appeal of Senator Daly with regard to the extent of coverage of the Seanad debates both in the newspapers and in the media. I have no doubt that many of us will live to see the day when a large number of seats in the Upper House will be reserved as of right for representatives from the part of the country from which I come. When that day comes it is essential that their voice should be heard where it needs to be heard. I must express my disappointment, not that I have not received more than my fair share of media attention but that on many occasions when one has put in a great amount of work on a specific debate of some importance, one comes in here, makes the contribution and apart from reading it in the Seanad Official Report that is the end of it. For all the work that has been put into it, it was in many senses a waste of time apart from what was reported. I certainly feel that the Seanad is not adequately reported. We should make no bones about it. I will pay the same tribute as has been paid already to the members of the press who are here and who have attended over the years. I still feel that many of the debates and many of the contributions here are worthy of much greater attention than they are receiving at present.
I would like to make one very brief point.
We have covered this fairly well and I think RTE and the members of the press have got the message.
We are very grateful for your indulgence but I think it would be wrong that the message would go out from this House that all of the daily newspapers have been equally negligent in relation to their coverage of this House. One newspaper stands head and shoulders above its counterparts — which include the Irish Independent, The Irish Press and The Cork Examiner— and that is The Irish Times, for the manner in which it has unfailingly managed to give adequate coverage to this House. It is our duty and obligation to pay tribute to The Irish Times for the manner in which it has, time and again, covered adequately the proceedings in this House.
In conclusion, let me compliment RTE on the very tasteful manner in which they have, over the past two weeks, adequately highlighted the proceedings in this House. The public reaction has been excellent and has gone a long way towards underpinning our contention that the level of debate in this House is not only on a par with that of the other House but is far superior.
I will deal with Senator McDonald's point first. The first item is important legislation. If Second Stage is not concluded by 1 p.m., I am sure the House will agree to extending it to try to have the matter concluded before we deal with the next item. That is a matter for the House and I will leave it to the discretion of the House which, I have no doubt, will consider the request favourably.
I want to risk being out of order on the other subject. I share the sentiments expressed by the Leas-Chathaoirleach in particular, who has served on a committee with me over a number of years, on trying to reach agreement with RTE. Through our procedure and privileges, we want to give them facilities to cover the proceedings of this House. I was favourably impressed originally when they did a mock-up programme and afterwards when they broadcast the live proceedings I was very impressed with the level of coverage they gave us. I hope sincerely that that will continue because this House deserves the same recognition as a House of the Legislature as the other House. It may not cause the fall of a Government but it is a necessary part of the process of legislation, and the public are entitled to know what is happening in this House. I have a meeting with RTE this afternoon, where I will express the views of the Members of this House, including Senator Lanigan and all those Members who have contributed. It is vital that RTE should give us a fair crack of the whip.
The other matter is in relation to the press. We all respect the freedom of the press. I want to join with my colleagues in complimenting the reporters from all the newspapers who are here faithfully every day. It is not their fault if their editors do not reproduce through the medium of the newspapers some of what goes forth from this House every day. I do not want to say more than that because it would be inappropriate to comment beyond that level.
RTE have a "Morning Ireland" programme. At times, at the end of the programme I have heard them recommending certain events to their listeners. On the days on which the Seanad was sitting they mentioned even sub-committees of this House as sitting and they mentioned annual general meetings of other voluntary organisations, but they omitted to mention to the public that this House was sitting. No wonder there is a call for its abolition. People do not think we are sitting when, in fact, we are working many long hours. I hope the media will record that.
Order of Business agreed to.