The primary purpose of this Bill is to enable the Minister for Justice to appoint persons to be known as assistant censors to assist the film censor in the performance of his duties and functions under the Censorship of Films Acts, 1923 to 1970, and the Video Recordings Act, 1989 — particularly the latter Act.
Basically, the Video Recordings Act, 1989, aimed at three levels of control. First, it contains provison for the licensing of all video wholesalers and retailers. Second, it provides that the censor may, on grounds specified in the Act, prohibit the supply of video films which he considers unsuitable for viewing. Third, it provides for the classification of all video films in terms of their suitability of reviewing by different age groups.
The first two levels of control mentioned — licensing and the censor's power to prohibit certain videos — are in operation. However, the third level of control — classification of all video films — has yet to be brought into operation and this is where the present Bill becomes relevant. The volume of work which will be involved in classifying all new videos and those already on the market could not be undertaken by the censor alone. He will need considerable assistance and hence the need for assistant censors.
Before I deal with the detail of the provisions of the present Bill I would like to remind the House, briefly, of the circumstances which made it necessary to enact the Video Recordings Act, 1989. In the mid-1980s video films were a comparatively new phenomenon. They enjoyed an amazing growth in popularity during that decade. This growth was evidenced by the fact that video recorders became commonplace in homes and by the proliferation in the number of outlets which supplied video films.
There were thousands of video film titles available and the number was being added to at the rate of approximatley 1,000 new titles each year. Most of these films were unobjectionable in their protrayal of adventure, comedy, romance, sport, education, etc. There were some video films available, however, that were thoroughly objectionable. These films depicted extreme and graphic violence or uninhibited pornography. The extremely violent films contained many scenes of the most stomach turning and ghastly violence and attracted the name "video nasties". The pornographic video films portrayed sex in a totally objectionable manner.
Films of this kind can have an adverse effect on the viewers and they can also result in crimes against other innocent people. Apart from that, they tend to increase the general tolerance of what ought to be unacceptable. If people frequently see extremely violent films, some of them will come to regard this type of violence as the norm. The danger is that the more impressionble of them will initiate and imitate in real life what they see in the video world.
As I have said already the pornographic films are totally objectionable in what they portray. I understand that anybody who has not seen these films cannot imagine the depths of degradation to which they stoop. Much of the material could only be described as degrading of human nature generally, but all of it is degrading and offensive as far as women are concerned.
Until the passing of the Video Recording Act, 1989, we had two forms of censorship — censorship of publications and censorship of films — which had been in place practically since the foundation of the State. Yet the new powerful medium, the video film, had no specific form of control. Because of the availability of video films containing extreme and ghastly violence or uninhibited pornography, it was generally recognised that specific legislative provisions were required to control and regulate the supply and importation of video films. Hence the enactment of the Video Recordings Act, 1989. The 1989 Act is, as I said, being brought into operation in stages by ministerial order.
In April 1991, regulations were made which require retail and wholesale video dealers to be licensed with effect from 1 May 1991. These licences are issued by the film censor and authorise the sale or letting on hire of video recordings at or from a particular premises. A licence remains in force for a period of 12 months. Between 1 May 1991 and 30 April 1992,1,534 retail and ten wholesale licences were issued. The fees for licences are: retail: £100, and wholesale £4,000.
In July 1991, a further order was made enabling the film censor to exercise his powers under the Act to prohibit the supply of video films which he considers to be unfit for viewing. To date, the censor has issued prohibition orders in respect of 71 such video films.
A further order and regulations will be required in the coming months to commence the remainder of the Act and enable the film censor to examine all new video films intended for supply and also to commence the systematic examination of all video films already on the market. The censor will examine the videos to determine whether they are suitable for viewing and, if suitable, will assign one of the following four classifications to them: (i) fit for viewing by persons generally; (ii) fit for viewing by persons generally but for a child under 12 years only in the company of a responsible adult; (iii) fit for viewing by persons aged 15 years or more; and (iv) fit for viewing by persons age 18 years or more. However, because of the volume of work which will be involved it will be necessary, as I said, to first appoint a number of assistant censors to assist the censor.
In addition to the Bill, administrative and computer systems have to be put in place at the Film Censor's Office to cope with the certification process. Extra staff will have to be recruited and trained on those systems. It is estimated that the Censor's Office will be in a position by the autumn to commence certifying and classifying video films.
While it is not possible to quantify accurately the number of video films involved, information received from trade interests suggests that the task could not be performed by the Film Censor in addition to censoring cinema films. The trade say they will be submitting in the region of 700 new video films each year to the censor for examination. This figure does not take account of those video films already on the market. It is estimated that there could be as many as 12,000 to 15,000 video films already on the market which will also require examination.
With that background in mind I would now like to address in broad terms the provisions of the Bill before the House.
As I have said the main purpose of the Bill is to amend existing legislation to enable the Minister for Justice to appoint assisant censors to assist the film censor in the performance of his statutory duties and functions. Section 2 of the Bill deals with this. The Bill also provides for the rectification of anomalies in the existing legislation which relate to the fees to be prescribed for appeals to the Censorship of Films Appeal Board. Sections 3,4 and 5 are the relevant sections of the Bill in this regard.
In section 2 it is proposed to empower the Minister to appoint as many assistant censors as will be required to assist the film censor in the performance of his duties. The assistant censors will be given the same statutory powers as the film censor to make decisions in relation to the certification and classification or prohibition of cinema and video films with the exception of the following powers which will be confined to the Film Censors: (i) the power under the Censorship of Films Act, 1970, to review a decision made over seven years previously in the case of a cinema film; (ii) the power under section 4 (3) of the Video Recordings Act, 1989, to give a higher classification, that is, one indicating suitability for younger viewers, in the case of a video film; (iii) the power under section 7 (3) of the Video Recordings Act, 1989, to revoke a prohibition order in respect of a video film; and (iv) the making of annual and other reports under section 29 of the Act of 1989 to the Minister for Justice on the censor's activities as to censorship of cinema or video films.
Thought was given to whether a system could be devised whereby the assistant censors could operate in a subordinate role to the censor and where final decisions on classification could be left to him. Such a system would have the advantage of guaranteeing uniformity in determining classifications. However, given the sheer volume of work which is involved and the fact that the video producing companies will need speedy decisions on the classification of new videos, it would make such a system unworkable. However, under the system proposed in the Bill, there are provisions aimed at ensuring a uniform approach to classification.
First, it is proposed that the film censor, subject to any directions that may be given to him by the Minister for Justice, may determine which functions an assistant censor may perform and to what extent he or she may perform such functions.
Second, there is provision that the assistant censors will perform the functions allotted to them under the general superintendence of the film censor and consult with him from time to time about the performance of these functions. These provisions will provide the film censor with the means to establish classification standards and maintain a consistency in their application.
As to the appointment of persons to the position of assistant censor, there are a number of factors which will have to be taken into account in determining their conditions of employment. For example, the video business is subject to peaks and valleys. Some of the variations are seasonal while others are related to customer trends and demands. Regardless of such variations, however, distributors of video films will demand a consistently speedy service from the Film Censor's Office in having their product examined, certified and classified in time to meet planned release dates into the market place. In addition, experience elsewhere has shown that persons employed on the examination and classification of video films maintain consistently better standards of judgment if employed for short periods and given long breaks.
Also, more assistant censors will be required during the first years of examination of video films until such time as the backlog of films already on the market have been dealt with.
It would seem that the appointment of assistant censors on a full-time basis to examine video films would not be the best way to cope with these factors. Other options would be to appoint assistant censors on a contract basis for a definite period of time or to appoint them on a part-time basis as the need arises, or a mixture of both systems. I am having these matters examined at present, but it may not be possible to determine all the issues involved until the operation of classifying the videos gets under way.
Assistant censors will be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas. The annual cost involved will depend on the volume of new video films released each year and the rate at which those films already on the market can be examined. It is not possible, therefore, to state accurately what the level of cost is likely to be during the first or second year of operation. All costs involved in the operation of the Video Recordings Act, 1989, will be recovered by the charging of fees for services provided. Accordingly, there will not be any net additional cost to the Exchequer.
I would now like to turn to the other proposals in the Bill before the House which are intended to regularise the existing law covering the prescribing of fees for appeals in respect of cinema films and video films — sections 3, 4 and 5 refer.
The effect of the relevant provisions of the Censorship of Films Act, 1923, in relation to appeals in respect of cinema films is that a fee of not more than £5 may be prescribed in each case and, where that appeal is successful the fee should, be refunded. In the case of appeals under the Video Recordings Act, 1989, in respect of video films, the requirement is that the appellant pay such fee as may be prescribed with no provision for repayment of that fee.
If those provisions of the Acts of 1923 and 1989 are allowed to stand further anomalies will exist in that the fee for an appeal in the case of a video could reflect modern day values while the corresponding fee for a cinema film will be set at a limit of £5 and, while this fee may be refunded if the appeal is successful, such is not the case in an appeal involving a video.
What I now propose in the Bill is to regularise the matter by leaving the amounts of the fee in respect of appeals in both cases to be fixed by regulation but to provide that the fees to be paid by the appellant in the case of either a video or a film should be repaid if the appeal is successful.
The provisions in this Bill in relation to the appointment of assistant censors are essential to the implementation of the Video Recordings Act, 1989, that is, the examination and classification or prohibition of all new video films intended for release and the systematic examination of all video films currently on the market. I would hope, therefore, that I will have the support of this House for the measures proposed. I look forward to an open and informative debate on the proposals.
I wish to assure Members of the House that I will give careful consideration to all views expressed in the course of the debate.
I commend the Bill to the House.