Vol. 1 No. 6
In accordance with Standing Order 85, the following message will be sent to the Dáil:
The Select Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources has completed its consideration of the Broadcasting (Funding) Bill 2003 [Seanad] and has made no amendments thereto.
I thank the Minister of State and his officials for their attendance.
I thank the Chairman and his officials for their co-operation and tolerance over the past two hours. In particular, I thank Deputies Coveney, Broughan and Eamon Ryan for their contributions and ideas. As I said, we will re-consider some of the issues raised on Report Stage. I thank my officials for their guidance and for keeping me on the right track this afternoon.
I thank the officials for their patience and co-operation. I also thank the Minister of State for taking the Bill in his usual friendly way. I hope he will consider some of the issues I raised, including that of broadening the scope of the provisions dealing with multiculturalism. I am particularly concerned that he address the issues of captioning and doing something for the disability sector. I know he is serious about this and I look forward to having the matter addressed.
I thank the Minister of State for his usual courtesy and efficiency at this committee. I hope the two issues my colleague mentioned might be addressed. The Minister of State should also give some thought to a matter we did not get a chance to debate, but which I mentioned on Second Stage, namely, the extension of the broadcasting of Parliament. I questioned how this could be achieved. Obviously, it has not been achieved through the Bill we have just considered but perhaps it could be achieved through the BAI. Somebody in the Department might bear this in mind because it is so important for our democracy. I thank the Chairman for his efficiency.
I thank all the members for working closely with me today and for considering the Bill in record time.
