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INDEPENDENT TD STEPHEN Donnelly has tabled a bill which aims to remove the the term “offence” from the Broadcasting Act as he believes its inclusion can be used to “gag free speech”.
Donnelly told the Dáil this afternoon that he is introducing the bill in the wake of the Pantigate controversy which he says, along with the current legislation, has already caused broadcasters to “err on the side of caution”.
“I don’t believe people should be censored for saying offensive things, whether or not that offence is reasonably taken or not,” the Wicklow TD told deputies.
The legislation in its current form gags free speech, harms public debate and means broadcasters can be bullied by the litigious and thin-skinned.
The TD referenced the letter from RTÉ’s head of television Glen Killane to staff explaining the rationale behind the station’s payout to the Iona Institute as evidence of how the current rules restrict broadcasters.
The TD said that it has been suggested in the media that Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte is considering amending the act so that it instead refers to “reasonable offence”. He argued that this would still “hamstring broadcasters” and wants no reference at all to “offence” in the Broadcasting Act.
The private members bill would change the current wording of paragraph (d) of the Broadcasting Act 2009 from:
anything which may reasonably be regarded as causing harm or offence, or as being likely to promote, or incite to, crime or as tending to undermine the authority of the State, is not broadcast by the broadcaster
to:
anything which may reasonably be regarded as causing harm, or as being likely to promote, or incite to, crime or as tending to undermine the authority of the State, is not broadcast by the broadcaster.
Donnelly argues that his suggestion “removes just two words from the Broadcasting Act” and would “immediately fix one of the biggest flaws in the legislation”.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that the Government was not opposing the bill’s entrance to the house and would be looked at by Minister Rabbitte.
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Hopefully they’ll get a reduction on their bill although the standing servicecharges
@Tommy Haze: The standing/service charge is what pays for connection/reconnection services.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: The standing charge is how they really screw us. They get you to compare their prices against what little competition is in the market and make themselves look better.
Answer me this: If it’s for connection, why do all new houses have to pay massive connection charges.
When the network is in need of a major upgrade, why does the regulator add it on to customer bills. One of the current upgrades, smart meters has been added on to customers bills for the next 20 years. I wonder how they will all explain what will happen when the telecom networks switch off 2g on which these meters work.
@Donal Ronan: I heard the smart meters being installed in Ireland weren’t giving live data to yet esb which is bad enough but I never knew they were using the old mobile data network until now!
Hopefully it will just be a case of swapping in new sim cards, though even that would result in a large standing charge increase!
Was is it anything to do with the ESB lads heading off to France to repair the French infrastructure!
Will probably still apply.
No ESB,= No water, no heating, no cooking, thankfully I have a diesel car to get food and water.If Eamon and his clan get their way I would die of thirst,hunger,cold or abandonment.Roll on GE
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