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COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER DENIS Naughten is prepared to introduce gender quotas for Irish radio stations if recommended in a forthcoming report.
Minister Naughten, whose powers cover public service broadcasters such as RTÉ and TG4, said that the quotas could even be extended to commercial stations if the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland was willing to connect them to licensing agreements.
The BAI and Minister Naughten’s department are currently awaiting the results of research undertaken by Dr Kevin Rafter on gender and broadcasting in Ireland.
“I am prepared to act and follow through on any of the recommendations that come within the remit of my own department,” Naughten told TheJournal.ie this week. He said that this may include quotas – an issue he had changed his own thinking on in recent years.
In 2015, a report into gender representation on Irish radio found that female voices only make up an average of 28% of broadcasting time on current affairs shows. A recent look at Irish radio found that two national broadcasters, Today FM and Newstalk, have no women on air between 7am and 7pm, Monday to Friday.
“I am someone who was opposed to quotas in politics and changed my view on it. I was a member of the Oireachtas Justice Committee a few years ago, and following the hearings I felt that we didn’t have any choice but to bring in quotas in relation to politics and it has worked well,” he said.
“We have some very, very capable young politicians, female politicians, in Leinster House now. And I’m looking forward to them getting real opportunities in ministerial roles in the years to come. And I think they can really do and have a big impact as role models.
“And I think : do we need to see that in broadcasting as well? Yes, I think we do.”
He said he believes this is something that the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications can also look at. The committee “is looking at how we would use the licence fee, how we would raise funding, how we would spend it, do we look at public service journalism and not just broadcasting”.
“And could there be conditions then put in on that in relation to the gender quota issue, all that can be looked at in that context and I am quite willing to look at it,” said Naughten.
He does not have powers in relation to commercial radio, but explained: “But if commercial radio was getting some funding in relation to the TV licence or the replacement TV licence, that could be maybe a condition that could be put in on it. But is there the possibility to explore aspects? Absolutely.”
He said that gender quotas could be recommended as part of the licensing conditions, and that would be a matter for the BAI to look at.
Naughten described the way gender quotas were introduced in politics as “quite innovative”.
Quotas were set for the number of women that parties have to put on the ballot papers.
“So it gives people the choice, then it’s up to them to make the decision who they want to represent them,” said the Minister. “So I’m looking forward to seeing what Kevin Rafter comes back with, see if he comes up with something innovative, that can work in a uniquely Irish situation.”
The report is due out in December or January.
Hearing voices: Read our in-depth look at the state of gender balance and Irish radio at 11am today on TheJournal.ie.
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Seems like this is going to become a regular occurrence, surely these people know exactly what they are doing, legislation is seriously required…………
@Julie: Agree they know what they are doing, but already have laws and legislation regarding the use of drones near airports and other locations. The people doing this just don’t care.
@Julie: as I said in the previous event… they need a mechanism to stop it. It’s already illegal. Ireland has plenty of laws, enforcement is lacking.
@Richard: good drones can’t fly in restricted areas, they literally land. But cheap ones with no GPS can
@Richard: It’s the DAA’s responsibility. They have bird scaring processes on site. Time to start drone watching now.
@Dave Harris: unfortunately cheap clones of brand name drones like DJI are readily available and there are a lot of 5tup1d people around
@Dave Harris: Maybe drones without GPS should be banned or heavily regulated then.
@Tomo: Totally agree, flight safety for commercial airlines far outweighs the ‘amusement’ of toy drone enthusiasts.
Obviously the little guy got a quad off Santa and now for his birthday his delightful family bought him a drone. Took 10 months from Alibaba but arrived just on time .
@Murph11: this is exactly it. The law unabiding citizens of Ireland.
@Murph11: a fresh batch of m0r0ns, allowing the lowest common denominator to dictate. There needs to be more gene splicing with particular people.
Good luck waiting for sleepy Eamo to spring into action
You are surely not expecting Eamon Ryan to do anything are you? You have to wake him up and remind him where he is first.
A major crackdown on these muppets is long overdue. Putting the safety of flights and their passengers at risk is a cowardly act.
Pellet gun. Job done.
@Brian Costigan: Shotgun. More chance of hitting it.
@Brian Costigan: shotgun you mean
Far right nut job no doubt.
I wish media would stop reporting these events, sadly leads to more copycat events.
Shoot them down. People will think twice then
@Kevin O’Brien: they will only buy twice. This would be a badge of honour for the m0r0ns and their drones.
Are they sure it’s not a Chinese Spy balloon. Where are the photos?.
@Padraig: Here is your solution DAA. You can thank me later.
@Padraig: a bargain at just under 11 grand in fairness! Often have had to fork out 15 or 20 grand for one!
I might be off the mark here, but I could see this issue being the fault of airlines pulling out of here altogether if it persists.
@Declan Moran: that’ll never happen. There are drone incidents all over the world, The drone industry will suffer way before the airline industry does.
Why are they not shot down .
Hans, bubby, I’m your white knight,
We need to get them birds of prey that are trained to take them down.
Ask the UN for ground to air missiles or use a pop gun . They can not be that hard to hit. Overthinking this, I think.
Get the American Air force to shoot them down as spying balloons
have your say