Amendment No. 123 and its consequential amendments Nos. 118 to 122, inclusive, address the matter raised by a number of Senators and explicitly provide for specific matters concerning commercial communications which coimisiún na meán may regulate through online safety codes. The purpose of these amendments is to give further effect to these matters by providing that coimisiún na meán may consult a public health authority before making any such provision in an online safety code. This mirrors the existing similar provision in section 46N on media service codes.
Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage
Government amendment No. 118:
In page 85, line 11, to delete “shall consult”.
Amendment agreed to.
Government amendment No. 119:
In page 85, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following:
“(a) shall consult—”.
Amendment agreed to.
Government amendment No. 120:
In page 85, line 12, to delete “(a)” and substitute “(i)”.
Amendment agreed to.
Government amendment No. 121:
In page 85, line 14, to delete “(b)” and substitute “(ii)”.
Amendment agreed to.
Government amendment No. 122:
In page 85, line 14, to delete “appropriate.” and substitute “appropriate, and”.
Amendment agreed to.
Government amendment No. 123:
In page 85, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following:
“(b) may consult a public health authority about any provision of an online safety code referred to in section 139K(2)(d) which it proposes to make.”.
Amendment agreed to.
Government amendment No. 124:
In page 85, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following:
“(7) The Commission shall publish a report given to the Minister under subsection (6) on a website maintained by the Commission.”.
Amendment No. 124 addresses a matter raised by Senators Higgins and Ruane on Committee Stage. The purpose of this amendment is to require coimisiún na meán to publish any reports regarding the operation of online safety codes it provides to the Minister on its website.
I thank the Minister for taking our recommendations on board. This will improve the transparency of the operation of the commission.
Amendment agreed to.
I move amendment No. 125:
In page 87, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following:
“(2) Where an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions has been committed by an undertaking and the doing of the acts that constituted the offence has been authorised, or consented to by, or is attributable to connivance or neglect on the part of, a person, being a director, manager or other similar officer of the undertaking, or a person who purports to act in any such capacity, that person as well as the undertaking shall be guilty of a offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.
(3) Where a person is proceeded against as aforesaid for such a offence and it is proved that, at the material time, he or she was a director of the undertaking concerned or a person employed by it whose duties included making decisions that, to a significant extent, could have affected the management of the undertaking, or a person who purported to act in any such capacity, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the doing of the acts by the undertaking which constituted the commission by it of the offence concerned under any of the relevant statutory provisions was authorised, consented to or attributable to connivance or neglect on the part of that person.
(4) In the event of a dispute as to the identity of the person responsible for the alleged offence, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the person designated as responsible for online safety on the register as provided for in S.139J.(2)(c), shall be the responsible person.
(5) Summary proceedings may be brought and prosecuted by the Commission in the case of an alleged offence.”.
I second the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Amendment No. 126 has been ruled out of order due to a potential charge on the Revenue.
Amendment No. 126 not moved.
Government amendment No. 127:
In page 104, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following:
“(3) The Commission shall publish rules made under subsection (1) on a website maintained by it.”.
Amendment No. 127 addresses a matter raised by Senators Higgins and Ruane on Committee Stage. The purpose of this amendment is to require coimisiún na meán to publish any rules it may make regarding the conduct of investigations by authorised officers on its website. I note that these particular rules would, in any case, be made by statutory instrument and published as a matter of course.
I welcome this amendment, although I still have some concerns about the powers and operation of authorised officers. I have not submitted any Report Stage amendments in that regard but this is an area that could merit further revision in the Dáil. Transparency around the rules for the conduct of authorised officers is a very important step forward and I thank the Minister for that.
Amendment agreed to.
I move amendment No. 128:
In page 117, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following:
“(aa) where the content appears to the Commission to fall within the category of age-inappropriate online content defined in section 139D, requiring the provider to restrict access to the content to persons who have attained the age of 18 years, or”.
I second the amendment.
Amendment put and declared lost.
Government amendment No. 129:
In page 125, line 24, to delete “section 7(3)(c)” and substitute “section 7(3)(d)”.
Amendment agreed to.
Amendments Nos. 130 to 135, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together.
Government amendment No. 130:
In page 131, line 20, after “sustainability” to insert “, biodiversity,”.
For clarity, amendment No. 133 is included in this group but its proposers are not here. Should I still speak to it?
The Minister is not obliged to speak to them but she may speak to any or all of the amendments in that grouping.
Amendment No. 130 addresses a matter raised by Senators Higgins and Ruane on Committee Stage. The purpose of this amendment is to provide that coimisiún na meán may fund, through a content production scheme made under section 159F of the Broadcasting Act as amended by the Bill, new audiovisual programmes relating to biodiversity. Following the Seanad debate and the points raised by Senators, I thought there was merit in clarifying that it is intended that programmes related to biodiversity may funded through a scheme.
The purpose of No. 131 is to change the reference in this provision from “human rights, including equality, diversity and inclusion” to “human rights, equality, diversity and inclusion”. This is to address the point raised by Senators Higgins and Ruane during Seanad Committee Stage regarding consistency with other legislation which tends to refer to these human rights, equality, diversity and inclusion as distinctive concepts rather than treating them as a subset of human rights.
On amendment No. 132, I noted during Committee Stage that I believe the general references to science and education in paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section 159F of the Broadcasting Act as amended by the Bill would already allow such programmes relating to digital empowerment and data protection awareness to be funded. I have not changed my position and will not accept the amendment.
Amendment No. 133 provides that a content production scheme may be co-managed or delegated to another agency, and specifically references Screen Ireland in this regard. Given their complementary functions, I expect that coimisiún na meán and Screen Ireland will work closely together, in terms of both policy frameworks such as the audiovisual action plan and in terms of sharing information and knowledge regarding the operation of support schemes. However, I do not propose to accept this amendment as coimisiún na meán will include a media development commissioner whose remit will include the administration of any content production scheme.
I welcome the intention of amendment No. 134, which would provide that an coimisiún shall have regard for the need to ensure that people with disabilities can participate in new audiovisual programmes funded by content production scheme. During Committee Stage I noted that I would be worried about specifying that any one group may imply that it should be prioritised for participation in a manner that implied other groups may not be. That is why I proposed amendment No. 11, which requires coimisiún na meán to bear in mind the participation and representation of the people of the island of Ireland in relation to its policies towards broadcasting and on-demand media services. This amendment is intended to include people with disabilities and ensure their further and adequate participation and representation. Accordingly, I cannot accept amendment No. 134.
On Committee Stage, I indicated that I would give further consideration to amendment No. 135 in the context of Report Stage. I recognise the intention and would note that the Irish language element of the amendment may be adequately covered by the requirement that 25% of the annual funds of a content production scheme should be allocated to programmes in the Irish language.
I recognise the importance of both adequate access rules and participation and representation in programmes for users of Irish Sign Language. On access rules, section 46O of the Broadcasting Act as amended provides for an coimisiún to make media service rules requiring media service providers to make their services accessible, including provision of a sign language service.
I also expect that amendment No. 11 will require an coimisiún to consider the participation and representation of users of Irish Sign Language as regards its policies. Accordingly, I do not accept this amendment.
I think this is the last grouping we will discuss so I want to say I am deeply appreciative of the genuine and sincere engagement of the Minister and her officials. It was thoughtful and constructive. We have met for many, many hours in addition to the many, many hours of debate in the Chamber. I believe the Bill has been strengthened by that. I want to acknowledge the Minister's willingness. It is something that other Ministers could benefit from and learn from. You can engage and strengthen legislation. There were good ideas across the Chamber from Government Senators, who put forward constructive proposals, and from ourselves. I thank the Minister for approaching the Seanad debate with interest and engagement and in a sincere spirit of dialogue. That has been really positive so I thank her and her officials.
In that spirit, I welcome the reference to biodiversity. Its inclusion is important. I hate to say that I think there is a very poor definition of environmental development and sustainability in the Higher Education Authority Bill which moves us backwards but at least this Bill has definitions and measures that will move us forward.
While digital empowerment and data protection awareness that I sought is there, the media literacy component which was introduced earlier addresses many of my concerns on that, so I will not press that amendment.
I thank the Minister for taking on board my points, which were technical but important, on human rights and equality rather than human rights, including equality.
On participation, while I would like to have it included here, I recognise that in the higher level functions of the commission and in the service of all the people of the island that a value has been placed on participation and it has been named in the Bill. That is important and I hope that it will have a cascade effect throughout.
While there are strong measures for the Irish language, Irish Sign Language is still somewhat forgotten. It would be really positive were the works fund to support innovative and exciting programming to come through. I am thinking of the kinds of amazing programming that has become possible in the Irish language, which has been dubbed and subtitled around the world, because they are world-class productions. I would love to see that happen in Irish Sign Language too. I will probably press that amendment.
Finally, there was one area in which we were not able to bring forward amendments. We have spoken about the works scheme. We have seen the excitement and good ideas from across the House in terms of the European works scheme. This is the kind of important, interesting, empowering, exciting and imaginative content that we all hope will emerge from this kind of scheme. One area where we have been unable to bring amendments, although there will be capacity to do so in the Dáil, is in regard to the levy and ensuring that such a levy is strong. The works scheme is what happens with the moneys gathered from the levy. The measure I think is important is creating the power to place a levy on what can be very large companies and using it. I hope that the commission not only may but shall place a levy and ensure it is routed into the kinds of exciting European works scheme made possible.
Again, I thank the Minister. I will move and withdraw the different amendments in due course.
Indeed, the Senator will.
Amendment agreed to.
Government amendment No. 131:
In page 131, line 21, to delete “including”.
Amendment agreed to.
Amendments Nos. 132 to 134, inclusive, not moved.
I move amendment No. 135:
In page 132, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following:
“(aa) support cultural and social participation and access to programming for users of the Irish Language and Irish Sign Language,”.
I second the amendment.
Amendment put and declared lost.
Bill reported with amendments.
When is it proposed to take Fifth Stage?
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Question proposed: "That the Bill do now pass."
I thank everyone for their co-operation. Senator Malcolm Byrne may speak very briefly, as may Senator Cassells.
Brevity is a virtue.
The Senator said that before but I do not remember it.
Brevity can be relative. I am conscious that we, along with the Minister, have spent more than 30 hours in this Chamber-----
Let us not make it 31.
-----debating this. Extensive work was done by members of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media, and I am grateful for Senator O'Reilly's comments. I am talking about Senators Cassells, Carrigy and Warfield, who is not here with us.
I sincerely thank the Minister's officials, who must be exhausted, and the Minister herself. A lot of work has gone into this but it is really important legislation and possibly the most critical we will enact during the course of this Oireachtas. We look forward to the two outstanding publications, the report of the group on the individual complaints mechanism which we anticipate will inform the debate and------
The Senator is testing the limits of brevity.
-----the report of the Future of Media Commission. We anticipate and look forward to a full debate on that report. I again sincerely thank the Minister and the team at the Department for their co-operation and work in this regard.
It should not be lost that this legislation is probably the most significant that will be enacted during this Seanad's term. It will have an impact in many spheres and on many aspects of life in this country. As Senator Higgins said, the Minister and her staff's willingness to engage so fully and so positively has been of great service to everybody in this House. I thank the Minister and her staff for that. Their engagement on children's issues, the Youth Advisory Council, gambling, sporting advisory bodies and so on has really strengthened the Bill and I thank the Minister for that. It has been a very positive debate. Like Senator Malcolm Byrne, I thank the chairperson, Deputy Niamh Smyth, all other members of the committee and all the witnesses who came before it. All of their testimony fed into the culmination of this work tonight.
I concur with the comments that have been made. As Senator Cassells said, this is probably the most important legislation this Dáil and Seanad will pass. It will have a significant impact on various parts of our society and will protect our children. I speak as a parent of three children under ten years old. That is all ahead of me. It is important that we put in stringent regulations. That is why the whole issue of verification is important. I thank the Minister for coming to the Seanad, starting this legislation here and giving her time and the time of her officials to this debate. As Senator Malcolm Byrne said, we have spent 30 hours on the Bill between all of the Stages and the Minister has been here herself for every session bar one.
I believe I did all of them.
I apologise. I do not know why I thought the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, was here for one.
Did Deputy Chambers do one? He did. I had a family bereavement.
The Minister of State was here at one stage. I remember being here.
I just want to make the point that the Minister committed to ensuring that every single amendment put forward by any Member was debated, discussed and talked about. That does not happen with all legislation. I thank the Minister for that.
There was no guillotine either.
As I said, everyone had an opportunity. It is very important legislation. I also thank Deputy Niamh Smyth, chairperson of the committee. I forget the number of organisations we met within the course of pre-legislative scrutiny. The committee, with the full support of Deputy Niamh Smyth, felt that every organisation that wanted to meet with it should have the opportunity to do so. That allowed us to inform our views and the recommendations we put forward. More than 90% of what we proposed is encompassed in the legislation. It will do a lot of good. I thank the Minister again.
I thank Senator Carrigy very much.
The Acting Chairperson is rushing me off.
I am not rushing the Senator off at all. He can keep going if he likes. I will now allow the Minister in for a final few words.
I thank the Senators for their kind words. This legislation is of such significance that it was worth every moment of the 30 hours we have spent discussing it. I thank the Oireachtas committee for its extensive pre-legislative scrutiny. This time last year it was seeking an extension to allow it more time, which I was happy to agree to because the legislation is so significant. Senator Carrigy has reminded me that I had a family bereavement during this process. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, for stepping in for me that day. I thank all of the Senators here for what was a very constructive and respectful debate throughout. I thank them for that engagement. I also thank my officials, who must be exhausted. There was a lot of engagement with Senators outside of the Seanad and I thank the officials for doing that on my behalf. Gabhaim míle buíochas leo.
I chaired quite a bit of debate and have learned quite a lot about the subject, despite not being on the committee. It is fair to say that those in the Bills Office, who have had to deal with a great volume of amendments to many various Bills over the last two weeks, particularly amendments to this Bill, are due a great deal of credit. They stay up very late some nights to deal with all of the amendments that come through. I thank everybody for all of that.
Question put and agreed to.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar athló ar 7.55 p.m. go dtí 10 a.m., Dé Máirt, an 12 Iúil 2022.
The Seanad adjourned at 7.55 p.m. until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 12 July 2022.