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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Nov 2002

Vol. 556 No. 3

Adjournment Debate. - Radio Broadcasting.

The next two items are being taken together. Deputy McGuinness has given me notice of his intention to raise the matter of the need to debate the future of community radio throughout the country in view of the recent announcement by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland.

Deputy Hogan also raised a matter, the need for the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to review the regulatory environment in which the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland operates with a view to ensuring established and properly licensed community radio stations can continue to operate. Each Deputy will have five minutes and the Minister ten in reply. I call Deputy McGuinness.

I raise this issue to reflect the outrage expressed by the people of Kilkenny city and county in relation to the broadcasting licence application to the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland by Kilkenny Community Radio Limited. A public meeting was held to address the issue, attended by almost 2,000 people who expressed their outrage that Kilkenny Community Radio Limited should be left without a licence and asked to close its doors next October. The radio station is a wholly owned community station and expresses the views of the community in every aspect of its work and all its broadcasting programmes.

The station comprises 2,800 shareholders, all of whom reflect community ownership, has 21 employees and a high listnership, reflected in various JNLR surveys. For example, yesterday it achieved a 63% listnership rate. Overall, it achieves a 81% weekly listnership rate. It has only been outclassed in the league by Highland Radio, Donegal. It is a successful model in terms of community radio stations and has a very sup portive customer base. Most businesses, not only in Kilkenny, but also some outside the county, use the station to advertise their products.

There appear to be flaws in the legislation that would allow a successful radio station of this kind, existing over 13 years, to apply for a renewal of its licence, admittedly to cover a different franchise area of counties Kilkenny and Carlow, and have it displaced by the granting of a licence to a wholly commercial operator. Having during the years built up its intangible assets of a good advertising and listnership base, the station would command a value of millions of euro in the open market. The goodwill alone would increase that value, yet the station is being asked to close down without any reflection on the value it has created for the local community. In view of this, there is a lesson to be learned.

I ask the Minister to review the legislation to ensure that in the future community radio stations as successful as Kilkenny Community Radio Limited are not overlooked by the BCI. I also ask him to consider the possibility of having a licence issued to a community radio station for the franchise area of Kilkenny city and county, established in the listnership profile built up by Kilkenny Community Radio Limited over the past 13 years. The station's licence submission to the BCI indicated that the franchise area of counties Carlow and Kilkenny was structured in such a way to ensure it could provide a proper community radio service for both counties.

The reasons for refusal of the licence by the BCI are questionable. It states it has reservations about the community structure, but no other community radio station in the country could compete with the structure laid down by Kilkenny Community Radio Limited. It stated there was a lack of representation on the board from County Carlow. That is not the case because, if granted the licence, the new radio station would have reflected a proper membership from counties Carlow and Kilkenny.

At a time when pillars of the community in both church and State have crumbled we should make every effort to ensure the Minister responsible for community development should take note of what is happening in terms of local radio stations. This wholly owned community station cannot be ignored. In drawing the Minister's attention to the issue I ask him to facilitate the relevant Oireachtas committee in bringing before it the BCI and Kilkenny Community Radio Limited to discuss what has happened in this case and realistically consider the issuing of a separate licence, if necessary, to create competition in this area.

I wish to share my time with Deputy Pattison.

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I thank you, Sir, for allowing me to raise this important local matter in the House. It concerns the franchise area granted by the former Independent Radio and Television Commission to Radio Kilkenny, under the auspices of Kilkenny Community Radio Limited. The station has a high listnership with 2,800 shareholders and over 20 staff, all of them very dedicated to the well being of this highly successful radio station.

Everybody was surprised at the decision on the awarding of the licence by the BCI, established by statute in 2000, even if the application was to cover a wider area to include counties Carlow and Kilkenny. The shock at the decision was reflected at the large public meeting held in Kilkenny to address the matter.

I am disappointed that when the legislation was passing through the Oireachtas in December 2000, the Government did not listen carefully to the proposals made by the Opposition. My colleague, former Deputy Clune, who I introduced to the then chief executive of Kilkenny Community Radio Limited, Dermot Healy, proposed an amendment to ensure the investment of a Kilkenny radio licence holder, such as Kilkenny Community Radio Limited, would be recognised for a further five years if it met the criteria laid down by the BCI. Doubtless, Radio Kilkenny would have done so. This would have allowed the community broadcasting network established by Radio Kilkenny to continue to function in a professional manner. The then Minister, Deputy de Valera, and all Government Deputies voted against the amendment.

The legislation needs to be amended to allow, not only those in the Radio Kilkenny franchise area, but also throughout the country, who have in a community way built up their community listnership and shareholding, to function for an additional five years. While I do not believe licences should be granted in perpetuity, those involved in community radio should be given greater opportunities. The status of the BCI needs to be clarified by the Minister. He must indicate if Radio Kilkenny and all other applicants met the criteria and explain the reason the Radio Kilkenny franchise application was not successful.

I thank Deputy Hogan for sharing his time. An Adjournment debate is inadequate for a subject of this magnitude because this issue has major ramifications, not only for County Kilkenny and surrounding counties, but also countrywide. The entire country would be affected. As has been said, in Kilkenny we have a highly successful and popular local radio. It is a truly genuine community radio, community based and community driven. It is not merely unsatisfactory but disastrous that the licence can be taken away from it.

This scenario was foreseen, as Deputy Hogan said, when the legislation was going through this House. Deputy Brian O'Shea, a Labour Deputy representing Waterford, who was the party spokesperson on this area at the time, foresaw this kind of difficulty and repeatedly appealed to the Minister to accept an amendment that would have prevented the licence being taken in this manner. Deputy Michael D. Higgins also made a very passionate speech in favour of the amendment, also to no avail.

I call on the Government to take whatever action is necessary to ensure Radio Kilkenny keeps its licence. After all, it is the Government who insisted that the present legislation be there in spite of the appeals made against it.

I have two replies, one for Deputy McGuinness and one for Deputy Hogan. They are more or less the same.

Under the Radio and Television Act, 1988, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, which is a statutorily independent body, has responsibility for licensing local radio services. The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources has no function in regard to the licensing of such services. At the level of local radio, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland licences two different types of services. Firstly, the commission licences local commercial services which are most commonly licensed on the basis of a franchise area covering a single county or two neighbouring counties. Secondly, the commission licences local community services catering for smaller communities.

At present, 13 community radio services are licensed by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. I understand the commission intends inviting expressions of interest later this year or early next year from parties interested in establishing new community radio services. The commission is supportive of groups interested in establishing community radio services and it often assists such groups in planning for the development of a new service. Ultimately however, the future of community radio services will be decided by local communities themselves. Community radio services grow from the ideas, enthusiasm and efforts of individuals and groups at community level.

Deputy McGuinness referred to a recent announcement by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and suggested that the future of community radio needs to be considered in the context of that announcement. As the commission has not in fact made a recent announcement in regard to community radio services I assume he is referring to recent announcements by the commission in regard to the licensing of local commercial radio services. One such announcement related to a new commercial local radio service serving Carlow and Kilkenny.

In November of last year the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland invited expressions of interest from parties interested in providing local commercial radio services. In January of this year the commission decided to make a number of changes to the existing local radio franchise areas. One of the changes made was to introduce a new franchise area of Carlow-Kilkenny. The commission invited applications for the licence of the new franchise area of Carlow-Kilkenny in March of this year and made a decision in October last. I understand that Radio Kilkenny which holds the current licence for County Kilkenny applied for the licence for the new franchise but was not successful.

Licensing of local radio services is obviously a very sensitive matter. This House has taken the view that licensing decisions should be made by an independent statutory body and has passed legislation entrusting that responsibility to the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. Licensing decisions become particularly sensitive in circumstances where an existing local radio station fails in competition to have its licence renewed. This occurred recently in a number of cases. In these cases the existing local radio stations took part in a competition for a new licence but were unsuccessful.

The only reasonable analysis of what happened in these cases is that the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland took the view that the successful applicants best met the criteria for the award of new licences. I do not believe that the decision of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland in these cases should be interpreted in any way as a criticism of existing licence holders. Going forward, I expect the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland will have many more hard decisions to make. The interest of the people is likely to be best served, however, if there are a number of competent competing parties seeking each local radio licence. Healthy competition is a good thing. The alternative would be to renew licences in perpetuity and to never re-define franchise areas. This would avoid hard decisions and controversy but would obviously not be in the public interest.

The Minister of State had better read my reply into the record.

As I have already outlined in the previous debate this evening, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, which is a statutorily independent body, has responsibility for licensing local radio services. The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources has no function in regard to the licensing of such services. The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland's responsibilities in this mater are provided for in the Radio and Television Act, 1988. The commission has the power to licence local commercial radio services along with local community radio services.

Deputy Hogan raised the question of whether there is a need to review the regulatory environment in which the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland operates with a view to ensuring that an established community radio station can continue to operate. The answer to the question is the same regardless of whether Deputy Hogan was referring to a local commercial radio service or to a local community service.

If the question is whether the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland has the power to renew the licence of an existing radio service then the answer is quite clearly "Yes". If the question is if the commission can guarantee an existing licence holder that the licence will be renewed, then the answer is quite clearly "No".

If Deputy Hogan is suggesting that the existing legislation be amended to provide each licence holder with a guaranteed renewal of their licence then I reject his suggestion. As I outlined earlier, I am strongly of the view that the interest of the people is likely to be best served where there is competition for local radio licences. Competition will act as an incentive to existing licence holders to provide a service of the highest quality. The past performance of the existing or previous licence holders is a factor which the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland must have regard to when making decisions on the award of a licence.

Section 60 of the Broadcasting Act, 2001, requires the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland when considering the award of a local radio licence to have regard to the overall quality of the performance of the applicant with regard to any licence held by him before the date of making the application. This provision is included at the request and with the full agreement of the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland, the representative body for local independent radio stations. The Independent Broadcasters of Ireland were anxious to ensure specifically that the past performance of a local radio operator should be taken into account by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland when licences are re-advertised. In the past decade or so Ireland has witnessed the emergence of a strong local radio sector. This tremendous development and the high standards achieved should quite rightly be factored into future licensing decisions. The provision in the 2001 Act does this in a balanced and proportionate manner. There is no automatic right of licence renewal but instead a guarantee that past performances will be taken into account.

I do not believe that the circumstances referred to by the Deputy merits any legislative change. One of two sets of circumstances must pertain. The first option would be that licences would always be automatically renewed once the holder has operated the radio service to a certain minimum standard. The second option is that at reasonable intervals there should be a competition to determine who will hold the licence going forward. In the first scenario the interests of the licence holder would be paramount while the second reflects the existing regulatory environment. Here the interest of the public is paramount which is the critical factor that should inform this debate.

In legal terms, licensing local radio services is about granting a licence to one radio station as opposed to another. In practice it is about granting a right to a radio station to use a limited scarce resource – radio spectrum – to provide service to the public. Regulations should be designed to best serve the public interest. I am strongly of the view that is best served where there is competition for licences at regular intervals.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.10 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 6 November 2002.

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