Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 June 2022
2. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if she will report on the engagement she has had with two organisations (details supplied) following the ending of their partnership last week; the measures she will take to ensure that trans people are respected and their rights are upheld in the media; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32759/22]
View answerI wish to ask the Minister to report on the engagement she has had with RTÉ and Dublin Pride following the ending of their partnership last week, the measures she intends to take to ensure that trans people are respected and their rights upheld in the media, and if she will make a statement on the matter.
At the outset, I acknowledge that the announcement by Dublin Pride last week that it is terminating its media partnership with RTÉ reflects the hurt and anger within the LGBTI+ community and beyond it. I am proud of how far Ireland has come in recent years in terms of the greater respect offered to minorities and groups in society that were previously marginalised, and in particular to members of the LGBTI+ community. I am committed to supporting LGBTI+ people across all the areas under the remit of my Department. In that regard, my Department will be providing €55,000 to support the Dublin Pride festival this year.
As the Deputy will be aware, the independence of our public service broadcasters is set out in legislation in section 98 of the Broadcasting Act 2009. For that reason, it would not be appropriate for me to meet with RTÉ in respect of an individual programme. However, I am strongly of the view that media policy and regulation does and must continue to play an important role in ensuring respect and protection for trans people and other vulnerable groups in society. As Minister, my role is to ensure that there is a robust statutory framework in place, with appropriate standards and accountability mechanisms overseen by an independent regulator.
Under the Broadcasting Act, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, as independent regulator for broadcasting content in the State, is required to make broadcasting codes governing the standards and practice to be observed by broadcasters. The two codes of particular relevance are the code of fairness, objectivity and impartiality in news and current affairs and the code of programme standards, which is designed to ensure that the representation of persons and groups in society is appropriate, does not prejudice respect for human dignity and does not stigmatise, condone discrimination or incite hatred, including on the basis of protected characteristics.
All broadcasters in Ireland must ensure that their output is compliant with the law and with any codes and rules made by the BAI. The Broadcasting Act provides for a robust complaints procedure and sets out the power of the compliance committee of the BAI to initiate an investigation of a broadcaster for a serious or repeated failure by a broadcaster to comply with a broadcasting code and ultimately for the imposition of financial sanctions.
The framework for broadcasting regulation is designed to protect the independence of the media and I am therefore necessarily restricted in terms of direct intervention on this matter. I do, however, wish to conclude by saying we must ensure that all our people feel safe, valued and equal in our country. This is particularly the case where people are members of a very small, and consequently very vulnerable, minority, as is the case for trans people. Any conversations involving such a small minority must be carried out with great care and with absolute respect.
Hateful, divisive, manufactured so-called debate has now been imported to this country from the US and the UK. Two weeks of targeted abuse of the LGBT community in general, and the transgender community in particular, has been the result. Shamefully, the national broadcaster has been central to the whole thing.
We have heard a lot about the freedom to discuss in the past two weeks and I am going to make a point about that when I ask my next question. However, in reality, RTÉ, "Liveline" and the corporate media more generally have covered up the fact that the four people who were excluded from the National Women's Council event had announced by way of press release in advance that their intention was to disrupt the event and to do so by targeting a trans person for hostile criticism.
The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media has let RTÉ off the hook by cancelling the invitation to a meeting tomorrow. RTÉ might have faced some interesting questions at that meeting on its suppression of the facts surrounding this case. Will the Minister agree that the invitation should be reissued?
The framework for broadcasting regulation is designed to protect the independence of the media by preventing interventions by Government or Ministers, particularly the Minister with responsibility for the media, in programming decisions or programming content. As I said, that is outlined in section 98 of the Broadcasting Act.
The provisions to prevent the Government of the day from intervening in programme content broadcast on Irish television or radio necessarily and rightly limits the degree to which I can comment on individual terms of content. That is a vital principle that underpins the freedom of the media in our country and, in particular, the freedom of our public service broadcasters.
That said, I acknowledge that it can be uncomfortable and frustrating at times.
As I set out in my initial reply, there is a robust regulatory framework in place requiring broadcasters to adhere to appropriate standards and practices. I understand that the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media issued a statement yesterday indicating that it does not propose to hold a meeting to consider the broadcasts in question in recognition of the rights of the complainants to be afforded due process in proceedings. It is also important that I as Minister do not intervene in any regulatory decisions of the BAI and allow the process to operate as designed.
I repeat that as a general principle it is important that we conduct our national conversations in a spirit of respect and in recognition of the fundamental dignity of all our people. We must be cognisant of the words we use and how we use them and that is all the more important when we are speaking about a small and vulnerable minority in our society.
The Minister has been let off the hook. I am opposed to debating anyone's human rights. I am in favour of more discussion on gender identity issues. I am also in favour of asking hard questions like why, for example, the gender identity adolescent clinic at Crumlin hospital has not been operational for nearly 18 months. Why is there a waiting list of more than six years at the national gender service in Loughlinstown? Why is this service operating on an outdated model of care? Why is there no recognition for non-binary trans people? Why are there no public health service options for gender affirming surgery? Why, more than 20 years into the 21st century, do we still not have a GP-led and consent-based service for trans people in this Republic?
Clearly there is still much work to do to win LGBTQ liberation and I hope that the Pride events are well attended this month and that the trans Pride event on 16 July is a huge success.
Equally, I hope that those events are very well attended. I cannot answer his specific questions but what I can do is tell the Deputy what I am doing in my own Department to support and engage with the LGBTI+ community across the areas under my remit. Under the Creative Ireland programme, the creative communities initiative with local authorities provides funding to support community-led creative projects including for the LGBTI+ community such as Rainbow Library in Cork and the LGBTI+ Inclusion Festival in Galway. The Deputy may also be aware that the Government decided in February of this year to extend the Creative Ireland programme to 2027. As part of this, I specifically proposed that Creative Ireland should deepen its work collaborating through creativity across key interest groups and supporting, among others, LGBTI+ equality promotion.
In the broadcasting sector the BAI plays both a regulatory and a development role through support schemes such as sound and vision. My officials have been engaging with the BAI regarding the actions it is taking to promote equality, diversity and inclusion in the broadcasting sector in Ireland. The BAI is currently reviewing its 2018 gender action plan.
Finally, I share the Deputy's hope that both events are very well attended. As I outlined in my initial response to the Deputy's question, it would be inappropriate for me to intervene at this point and the Oireachtas committee made the same decision.
