Dick Spring
Ceist:60 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands if she contributed to the reply by the Government to the European Commission's Green Paper on Convergence. [14529/98]
Written Answers. - EU Green Paper on Convergence.
Brendan Howlin
Ceist:76 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands if the response to the European Commission's Green Paper on Convergence, which was despatched on 11 May 1998, represents her views on the future of broadcasting and, in particular, if she agrees with the statement in that reply that full competition and open network access should be the principles to apply to new entrants to the broadcasting sector. [14664/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 76 together.
My Department was consulted by the Department of Public Enterprise on the response to the Green Paper. The European Commission's Green Paper is a consultative document and sought to gather views on the growing convergence of the telecommunications, media and information technology sectors and the implications of convergence for regulation. The Green Paper is wide in scope and posed almost 30 questions on issues ranging from the nature and impact of convergence today, the socio-economic, business and consumer impact of convergence, securing public interest objectives in the light of convergence and possible approaches to regulation in the light of convergence.
In this regard, it is more appropriate to take the response to the Green Paper sent by the Minister for Public Enterprise on behalf of the Government as a whole rather than to take a particular phrase out of context. The extract referred to in the question comes from a response to questions relating to possible barriers to entry which would relate not only to regulatory barriers but to barriers created through ownership of technologies such as conditional access systems. In the context of the full response and the specific comment from which the extract in the question is taken, which states:
In relation to the issue of market entry, it is recommended that the broad principles of full competition and open network access as used to liberalise the telecommunications sector should be applied to new entrants to the broadcasting sector in particular. Regulation should respect the difference between the provision and delivery of services. In this regard the role of public service broadcasters as acknowledged in the protocol to the Amsterdam Treaty should be respected.
I have no difficulty with the response.