asked the Minister for External Affairs if any discussions have taken place between his Department and Radio Telefís Éireann regarding the proposed visit of a team of cameramen and reporters to North and South Vietnam; and, if so, if he will state the nature and the purpose of these discussions.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - RTE Vietnam Feature.
2.
The answer to the first part of the Deputy's question is in the negative and the latter portion does not therefore arise.
I may add that the first I knew of the proposal was when it appeared in a newspaper. As I could not get in touch with the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs at the time, I called the attention of the Taoiseach to the matter. Later the Taoiseach, after consultation with the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, spoke to the Chairman of Radio Telefís Éireann and informed him that in the opinion of the Government, the best interests of the Nation would not be served by sending a Radio Telefís team to Vietnam. The project was then dropped.
Could the Minister tell us why the Government considered it was not in the best interests of the country that an objective, factual report on the situation in both North and South Vietnam should not be made available to the Irish people?
The first I heard of any suggestion that this team were to go to North Vietnam, or to China or India, was after the matter was dropped and it appeared in the papers.
The Minister said in his reply to the question that he consulted the Taoiseach and that it was the opinion of the Taoiseach and the Minister that it would be in the best interests of the country if the team did not go. Could the Minister tell me on what basis he arrived at that conclusion?
I could give a number of answers to that question. The Television Authority here was set up after a long investigation into what happened in other countries. Its function is to distribute information to the Irish people through radio and television. I think that if there is anything in any part of the world the Irish people should know something about, it is the situation in Vietnam They have been deluged with pictures from Vietnam and they have been deluged with newspaper stories. They can read about it in periodicals; they can read about it in books and those who are interested in it have followed it very closely.
Radio Telefís Éireann is a semi-State body, set up by this Parliament. There are many troubled spots in the world and it would not be believed that this semi-State body had not sent the team to Vietnam at the request, or with the approval, or at the instance of the Government. If they went to Vietnam, I would be asked why the Government do not use their influence to send them to many of the other troubled spots all over the world.
Films and television programmes are very entertaining. I think, however, it will be admitted that the television camera is a very crude instrument with which to describe or illustrate very highly complicated political, social troubles.
I think, on the whole, if these were private individuals who were going, it would be all right. We would have no responsibility for it. If we want any more information; if anybody in this country does not know the issues in Vietnam, somebody could go at his own expense, or a group could go at the expense of people who send them out. They would be able to go out there, learn the language, live there for a couple of years and describe it fully with their pens rather than try to describe it with a few odd pictures which have to be selective and which could give a wrong impression. A camera team going out with all this equipment could only be a conducted and protected tour and would be regarded as such.
Further to the Minister's somewhat lengthy and confusing reply, would he agree that while he mentions that quite a considerable amount of cover is given by Telefís Éireann and the press to the situation in Vietnam, all this information is coming from one source?
That is not right.
Surely the Minister must appreciate the basic right of the Irish people to an objective, factual, unbiased report of the very serious situation in Vietnam——
I agree.
——and the Government's interference with Telefís Éireann in this matter is a definite denial of the people's right to that.
This Parliament sets out how the Government's affairs are to be run. I have the responsibility as a member of the Government to look after external relations. That is my responsibility. A very wise practice has grown up here — I think it always obtained — that where another Government Department, or a semi-State body, has contacts abroad or has to go to an international conference where a difficult question might arise, the Department of External Affairs is consulted. That has always been the case. It would be very wise for a semi-State body when they go outside their normal functions — and that takes them across the line of international relations — to consult us before they decide to send a team of this magnitude to the other ends of the earth. I do not know whether the team would even know the language spoken there.
I have one further question. When the Minister communicated with the Telefís Éireann authorities——
I did not. My answer says that I spoke to the Taoiseach in the absence of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs. It was the Taoiseach who spoke.
To Telefís Éireann?
Yes.
Did the Taoiseach direct Telefís Éireann?
No.