I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
I have great pleasure in introducing Private Members' Business on behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party. We have carefully studied all aspects of braodcasting and have prepared a Bill which will cater for development both in radio and television in the years ahead. In bringing forward this important Bill, we have clearly given the lead to this incompetent Government. We are, in a sense, a Government by Opposition and in Opposition. The Government are either incapable of responding or unwilling to respond to the crisis situation which has arisen in broadcasting due to the insensitive and highhanded action taken either by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, Deputy Mitchell, or the Minister of State, Deputy Nealon.
When Deputy Nealon was given certain responsibilities in broadcasting, I then warned of the danger of control by him over RTE of propaganda on behalf of Fine Gael and, indeed, of the Coalition Government. Seemingly, he wants to exercise a similar control over our independent broadcasting. The radio stations outside his control had to be silenced. Hence the harsh, ruthless, cruel measure adopted on a Minister's instruction without warning on Wednesday, 18 May, to close Radio Nova and Radio Kiss FM, followed by the closure of Radio Sunshine. I requested the Minister to state clearly who signed the order and if the instructions came from the BBC to the British Foreign Office and via our Department of Foreign Affairs. Was the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Barry, aware of the instructions from London as outlined in the High Court case as reported in the Irish Independent of 2 June, 1983? In this report of the proceedings in the High Court, the officials from the Department stated:
Most seriously, however, a specific complaint about the company's broadcasts had formally been made to Ireland by the Home Office of the United Kingdom. It appeared from their letter that substantial interference had been caused by Radio Nova in areas of the UK and the Minister had been called on to remedy this situation...
The instructions, in other words, seemingly came via the British Home Office to the Minister via the Department of Foreign Affairs. I would like Minister Mitchell to state quite clearly when replying to the debate tonight whether he is under instructions from London as far as broadcasting within this State is concerned. I would regard that situation as a serious infringement of our democracy, our freedom of movement and of action. A Fianna Fáil Minister would never be under any control from the British Home Office.
Minister Nealon has taken a certain amount of responsibility or, at least, credit or blame, which ever is applied, in relation to the closing down of the stations. A Minister with responsibility for broadcasting has not been delegated authority under the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1926, and perhaps the Minister would again clarify exactly who is responsible for that area of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. Various people have disclaimed responsibility. The Taoiseach seemingly was not aware of the action that was going to be taken by the Minister and I wonder if the Minister of State was aware of it. Furthermore, on the signing of the order for the action taken, seemingly the Minister headed off for sunny Portugal to be away from the flak which would occur from our young people as a result of the action taken by the Government. In the last few days a statement has issued from the Minister to which I will come later.
We of the Fianna Fáil Party took positive action in relation to broadcasting. We prepared our Independent Local Broadcasting Authority Bill which has wide powers and would give the facilities to provide an overall independent broadcasting within the State. As far as reacting to a situation is concerned, I completely reject those allegations made by Minister Nealon and other Deputies on the Government side of the House. When I was appointed front bench spokesman for Posts and Telegraphs in February 1983, the leader of our party, Deputy Haughey, requested me to give priority to independent local broadcasting. Because of the urgency of the matter we devoted our back-up committee meetings to preparing the legislation. Our chairman of that committee, Deputy Cowen, the secretary, Deputy John Browne, and the committee must be congratulated on their work in assisting me in relation to the preparation of this Bill. We worked on that legislation at every committee meeting for the last few months and had the Bill prepared and ready for printing at the time when the Government struck in relation to the closing of the stations in Dublin.
Minister Mitchell has accused me, as spokesman on Posts and Telegraphs, of preparing a Bill which is a variation of the 1981 Local Radio Bill. I accept that fully. Again, it is the consistency and continuity within the Fianna Fáil Party and Government — we believe in following up good legislation. In this case we revised it to cater for modern needs in relation to broadcasting. We have allowed it to cater at some stage for developments in relation to independent local television, which is a possibility in the years ahead, so that the stations could be licensed.
Furthermore, in view of difficulties being experienced in some parts of the country in relation to television reception, a development of a system of deflectors or rebroadcasting of television signals is taking place at the moment. This Bill will also allow the authority to investigate the situation regarding these broadcasting stations and provide an opportunity for licensing.
The Bill is broad in its concept and will cater for all the possibilities and opportunities in relation to broadcasting in this country. Government Opposition to the Bill is very weak. I reject their amendments to our Bill. Our Bill caters for local broadcasting and is community orientated as well as giving commercial opportunities. If there was no commercial aspect to broadcasting it would be difficult for any station to survive in the long term. A job creation potential, must be involved in setting up local radio stations. This is evident from the success of the stations which have been broadcasting here for some time with regard to the creation of jobs there, but many jobs have been lost in the last few weeks as a result of the action taken by the Minister.
I charge Minister Nealon with misleading the personnel involved in broadcasting by his statements on the RTE television programme "Today Tonight" when he was interviewed by presenter Pat Kenny in March of this year. The Minister first stated: "We have to get the pirates off the air". That is a direct quotation.
In response to Pat Kenny's question: "Are you determined to do that?" the Minister said: "Most certainly, but I think the way to do it at this stage is in association with bringing on local radio so that you do not leave a vaccum and create all sorts of difficulties."
Pat Kenny then asked: "People who run stations, would you allow them to apply?" Minister Nealon replied: "...various censures which you could apply: If you go off the air by July 1 or August 1, you could then apply".
I hope that the Minister will confirm the words that he stated publicly at that stage. He stated clearly to the people operating the stations that they would have an opportunity to apply and that he would give them adequate notice before he moved in the troops to close down the stations. The Minister was clearly indicating his general policy in relation to that area of broadcasting. The people involved listened to him because he had been given responsibility for broadcasting and they felt his words meant something. However, they were empty words. Within a few months key personnel in his Department moved in and closed down the stations in a most ruthless and heartless way depriving young people of a service they enjoyed. They supported the stations and got immense enjoyment from them. It was a big blow to young people from an entertainment point of view.
Our policy all along was to bring forward two Bills at the one time, the Radio and Telegraphy Bill, 1979 and a Broadcasting Bill. We would have had the legal framework to restrict people from broadcasting and also the framework to give these and other stations the opportunity to apply for and receive licences.
The Radio and Telegraphy Act, 1976 is totally inadequate. That is why we prepared proper legislation which we had intended to bring before the Dáil in 1981. Due to the election we did not get an opportunity to bring that Bill forward. If we were in power we would have brought it forward at this stage.
The Minister or Ministers of State have not given priority to this area. With the back-up staff the Minister has at his disposal and the fact that he has been given sole responsibility for broadcasting he should have got down to work and brought forward a proposal by now and have it passed before the summer recess. I appeal to Deputies to give proper consideration to voting for this Bill. If it does not go through the House I hope the Minister will bring forward his own legislation before the summer recess to enable legal broadcasting to take place before the end of the year.
There is a new generation of radio listeners. Young people are more discerning and demanding than before. Fianna Fáil's initiative in producing this legislation indicates that we recognise the needs of young people and reflects the attitude of Fianna Fáil members who are more than anxious that we bring forward legislation at the earliest opportunity to organise and control broadcasting.
I call on every Deputy who has ever availed of the facilities offered by the pirate stations to show his or her concern now by voting for the Bill. Deputies on the Government side owe it to the broadcasters to support the Bill because many of them would not have been elected to the House if it was not for the support they received from broadcasting stations operating around the Dublin area. It is a sad reflection on their interest that they are not here tonight. So many of them who queued up to appear at all times on these stations are sadly missing tonight when they would have had an opportunity to contribute to this debate. They are showing their interest in broadcasting by their lack of attendance.