Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 8 Jul 1987

Vol. 116 No. 15

Broadcasting of Seanad Proceedings: Motion.

Mr. Lanigan

I move:

That the following arrangements for the broadcasting of the proceedings of the Seanad, recommended by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, be adopted:—

(1) that Radio Telefís Éireann be authorised to continue broadcasting of the proceedings of the Seanad and Oireachtas Committees on a pilot basis for a further period of twelve months, provided that such broadcasting proves satisfactory throughout that period;

(2) that such broadcasting be reviewed on an on-going basis by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges;

(3) that such broadcasting to be in any of the following forms:—

(i) in edited form in Radio and Television News bulletins and current affairs programmes,

(ii) in edited form in a "Today in the Seanad/Oireachtas" type programme,

(iii) in edited form in a "This week in the Committees" type programme,

(iv) occasional live broadcasts of major debates of events in the Seanad or in Committees subject in each case to the prior approval of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges;

(4) that recordings should not be used in programmes of light entertainment, political satire or in party political broadcasts;

(5) that copyright of the material be retained by the Houses of the Oireachtas;

(6) that Radio Telefís Éireann archive material in accordance with their usual practice;

(7) that Radio Telefís Éireann be empowered to sell the recordings to foreign broadcasting stations at an appropriate charge subject to a formal agreement between Radio Telefís Éireann and such foreign broadcasting stations that the recordings shall not be used in programmes of light entertainment, political satire or in party political broadcasts;

(8) that Radio Telefís Éireann devote a proportion of broadcast coverage to proceedings of Oireachtas Committees; and

(9) that the Committee on Procedure and Privileges monitor progress of the arrangements and be the body to consider any complaints from Senators about material broadcast.

Mr. Manning

I pay tribute to the extremely impartial and objective work done by the broadcasting unit of RTE in reporting what happens in this House. The example they have set might well be followed by some of the newspapers.

Professor Murphy

I remember on the Committee on Procedure and Privileges some years ago how long it took to get the business of reporting proceedings in the Seanad off the ground. Like Senator Manning I agree it has been fully worth while. It has worked out very well. I have no reason for personal dissatisfaction with the reporting of the proceedings, though I am sure Senator McGowan has. It has given the public a better idea of the workings of this House. Although there are times when one would wish that the nightly report on the Oireachtas would cover more ground in respect of Seanad Éireann, on the whole we should be well pleased. Regarding our concern about subsection (4) which states:

That recordings should not be used in programmes of light entertainment, political satire or in party political broadcast;

I wonder if we are not being too thin skinned. After all, politics is entertainment and the business of RTE is primarily entertainment. If it is a matter of record I cannot see why the material should not be used in any way the authorities wish to use it. I want to express my satisfaction with a job which is being done extremely well.

Mr. B. Ryan

I agree completely with Senator Murphy. If people in this House choose to make fools of themselves then it should be the privilege of the nation to have that made known to them. We have an extraordinarily protective attitude towards ourselves and the media. In general I have no reason to complain about the media nor, I think, does any Member of this House. We can all make specific complaints about things we wanted reported which were omitted but I think it is time we got used to the fact that we cannot prevent satirical print organs of the media from making whatever use they wish of this House and its proceedings. They can use quotations out of context. They can use quotations which are unfair and quotations which are perhaps silly which were made on the spur of the moment and we can do nothing about it. It is time we stopped this genuflection towards the electronic media. My view is that we are masters of all of them, that we can handle all of them and we do not have anything to apologise for to any of them. We should, therefore, let them deal with this House any way they wish. We can deal with them on our own terms without this protective cloak we throw around ourselves the whole time.

Although I do not see any reference to radio in this motion, I presume it refers only to radio since that is the way it has been up to now. Again, we have this protective cloak around ourselves. I know RTE would drop dead if we suggested they should provide television coverage because of the costs involved; RTE would say that they are in favour of it, but what if we actually agreed to it? We should be setting the pace on this, inviting the electronic media to catch up with us rather than this grudging step-by-step recognition that we live in the late 20th century and not in the end of the 19th century.

I invite the Committee on Procedure and Privileges to look at the issue of our putting a whole series of restrictive conditions on how the electronic media deal with our affairs, and in particular the committee should look at the issue of allowing full access of all the electronic media to deal with the business of both Houses as they see fit. We have an extremely responsible media in this country by comparison with our near neighbour. We should get away from having to protect ourselves with rules and regulations and get used to a healthy ordinary working relationship with all of the media.

Professor Hillery

I share the view of Senator Ryan. If the terms of reference under which broadcasting is made are to be reviewed that should be done through the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. It is an important organ that serves as a monitoring device, and I would like to see that continue.

Like Senator Manning, I share the view that the presentation of the proceedings of both Houses of the Oireachtas has been done in a very balanced and fair manner. Furthermore, we often complain in the Seanad about the lack of coverage we get in the media. RTE have made an important contribution to redress that imbalance. I particularly welcome the further step to cover the proceedings of joint committees of both Houses of the Oireachtas. Many important national issues are discussed in these committees and I think the greater coverage will enhance the relevance of the committee and its work in the future. I welcome this motion and look forward to its further development.

Mr. Loughrey

Perhaps we might compromise on the suggestions already made by my colleague from Donegal, Senator McGowan and other Senators, that the contributions made by that side of the House be used for light entertainment programmes and that of the more serious Senators be used for the proper debate. Senator McGowan referred to the professionals; he should have referred to the professors. We are the professionals.

Mr. B. Ryan

What does Senator Loughrey profess?

Mr. Loughrey

My faith in this House.

Mr. Norris

I feel that in a sense I am becoming a member of a protected minority, that is, the members of the university teaching profession. I endorse what has been said previously. I think the broadcasting of the proceedings of this House would benefit the great majority of people because they would learn, as I have since I entered this House, how very much higher and more informed is the conduct of debates in this House. The Seanad itself would only benefit by being given air time by Radio Telefís Éireann.

Contrary to what one or two of my colleagues here said, I understand from the terms of this proposal that some suggestions, in the direction of television coverage are already contained therein because in paragraph 3 (i) there is a reference to edited highlights being broadcast on radio and television news items. That clearly is an invitation. It seems to me that we should welcome positively television coverage. We can learn from the example of Channel 4 television in the neighbouring island which has successfully broadcast the proceedings of the Upper House of that Parliament.

Finally, I would like to congratulate RTE: I would be very foolish as a politician if I did not congratulate them. It would be very much welcomed by all sections of this House if the coverage of the proceedings of Seanad Éireann were more adequately covered by a general spread of the national print media because it is very largely left to The Irish Times to cover the proceedings of this House. I very much wish that the Irish Independent and The Irish Press would follow suit and have a much more detailed and serious coverage. I say this because at election time all the national newspapers lecture the Irish public about the irrelevance of the Seanad.

An Cathaoirleach

Senator Norris should stay with RTE and let the papers look after us on another day.

Mr. Lanigan

I thank the Members for allowing this order to go through in such a speedy fashion. The points raised by many Senators regarding the form of broadcasting will be taken into account. The proceedings will be broadcast on a pilot basis for 12 months so that at the end of 12 months what has been said here and what is being said in other places can be taken into account. I would like to thank the editing staff of RTE for the excellent job they are doing. It is very hard for them to edit the day's work in both the Seanad and the Dáil. It has to be said that the Seanad has got reasonable coverage from RTE. Since the Seanad is sitting and the Dáil is not sitting, I would like to thank RTE for the work they did to ensure the allocation of 20 minutes of each night the Seanad is sitting and the 20 minutes on Saturday is allowed to us.

In regard to the other organs of the media, the public interest in these broadcasts is enormous judging by the amount of correspondence and the amount of comments made. I take the points that have been raised by Senator Norris regarding the other organs of media. We should not suggest that The Irish Times is the only newspaper that covers the Seanad debates: The Cork Examiner and the Independent group of newspapers give a very good coverage. Again — I have raised this matter time after time —The Irish Press group in general do not cover, except when there is something they want sensationalised or to run down what happens in this House. The editors of the newspapers should take into account that there is an interest in what happens in this House. As Senator Norris has said, the lecturing that goes on about politicians at election time and at other times should be ignored if the media are not prepared to tell the people what does actually happen — warts and all.

Question put and agreed to.