Patrick McCartan
Ceist:13 Mr. McCartan asked the Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications when the terms of office of the members of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission expired; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Broadcasting Complaints Commission.
The term of office of the membership of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission expired on 30 March 1991. The appointment of members to the commission is a matter for the Government and I will be putting proposals in the matter before Government in the immediate future.
The Minister states it is a matter for the Government to appoint; it is a matter for Government because this House gave the authority to the Government to do so. Does the Minister accept that under the 1976 Act, section 4 makes it mandatory that not later than 31 March 1977 a commission shall be established by Government and that there is no scope or opportunity for "maybe" or whatever, about this? Can the Minister explain, given the mandatory nature of the legislation, why we have been without a complaints commission for 12 months? Given the small number of personnel that need to be appointed to that commission can she offer any explanation as to what difficulties have existed? Does the Minister not accept that the absence of this commission, in addition to being totally in breach of positive duty in the legislation, is denying the public a democratic opportunity to have a say in the way in which current affairs, news, advertising and a range of other matters are presented on our national airwaves and is she happy with the situation?
As I said in the initial response, the Broadcasting Complaints Commission's term of office expired in March 1991.
That is right.
I am not aware that there was any specific reason why they were not reappointed. I am in the process of making a recommendation to Government for their reappointment as soon as possible. In relation to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, it is important to point out that their function is only in a case where a person makes a complaint to the RTE Authority and the response received from the RTE Authority is unsatisfactory. The person may then make recommendations to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission.
The Minister should reflect a little on the commitment for open Government. While she carries no personal responsibility for the appalling state of affairs she should be prepared to advise the House as to why we are now into the 13th month without the reappointment of the commission. Given that the provisions of the legislation allow for the reappointment of those who have held office heretofore on the commission, does she intend to appoint any of the former members of the commission? Has she made any contact with them to inquire if they are prepared to act on a newly appointed commission?
It is not a matter for me to appoint the Broadcasting Complaints Commission. That is a matter for Government. All I can recommend to Government is that the Broadcasting Complaints Commission be reappointed. It is a matter for Government then to decide who the members of that commission will be. They may well decide to reappoint some or all or none of the members who were on the commission before. I would remind the Deputy that I am only six and a half weeks in office and I have moved as quickly as I could in that period to reconstitute the Broadcasting Complaints Commission. I think it is unfair to talk about a term of 13 months.
Will the Minister confirm that the Government have been in breach of a statutory responsibility under the 1976 Act for 13 months? Will she condone, explain or excuse that? Will she further confirm that in that period anyone trying to make a complaint to the commission would have found that there was only a part-time secretary and a PO Box Number available? In circumstances where people were incensed, as so many of us were by the Dunne interview on "Today Tonight", what were we to do?
I thought I had explained — maybe it was not clear enough — that anybody who is incensed or concerned about RTE or their programming should first write to the RTE Authority——
Not just RTE.
It is only after they get a response from the RTE Authority and are not happy with it that they then have access to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission. In relation to that particular issue, or any other programming problem with RTE, if the Deputy can give me the names of people who wrote to the RTE Authority who were not happy with the response and could not make representations to the commission, by virtue of the fact that it did not exist at the time, I would be quite happy to pass on that complaint to the incoming commission when it is appointed.
Deputy Currie rose.
I think we shall move on now. We cannot spend all day on one question.
One final question.
I will call Deputy Currie for a brief question and then Deputy Byrne.
What excuse has the Minister to offer for the fact that the Government were in breach of their statutory responsibilities for over a year?
The Minister has already addressed herself to that question.
No, she has not.
She has indicated her position on it.
She went around it.
What advice can the Minister give to those who may have written to the RTE Authority and who were not happy with the answer they received? In the absence of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission what are they to do? Is the Minister aware of the number of dissatisfied complainants who are awaiting the Broadcasting Complaints Commission to listen to their complaints?
I do not have the answer to the second part of the Deputy's question. During the term of office of the last commission a total of 32 complaints were dealt with and the commission upheld 5.5 of them. Sorry, I do have information concerning the second part of the question. At present there are no complaints on hand awaiting the commission's consideration.
It is not surprising as there is no commission.
What is .5 of a complaint?
Such a meaningless answer.
Maybe half of the complaint they made was accepted and the other half was not.
How can you have complaints to the commission when there is no commission?
Ceist 15.