Gabhaim buíochas le baill an tSeanaid agus an chuireadh a bheith ina dteannta. The National Tourism Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022 provides the basis to enable the continued provision of capital funding to the National Tourism Development authority, Fáilte Ireland, for the purpose of supporting tourism product development and the tourism industry Section 24(1) of the National Tourism Development Act 2003 gives the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, with the consent of the …

Gabhaim buíochas leis na Seanadóirí go léir a labhair sa díospóireacht seo agus a chuir a dtuairimí faoi fhorbairt earnáil turasóireachta na hÉireann in iúl. It is proof of the importance of the tourism industry, which reaches into all parts of the country, rural and urban, and is a valued source of employment for many thousands of people in Ireland. In the time given to me, I will try to address some of the issues raised today. If I do not get back to Senators, I will ask my officials to follow up with them. Some …

The objective of the amendments in this grouping is to ensure that local sound broadcasters can avail of the scheme for professional journalistic practices which is being provided for in the Bill. Under this scheme grant funding will be available for broadcasters to provide training or professional development for persons employed by or providing services to the broadcaster in relation to promoting good professional journalistic practices. Without the amendments, this scheme would be restricted to community sound b…

Yes, it is.

This group contains a range of technical amendments made to the Bill during its passage through the Oireachtas. The purpose of amendments Nos. 8, 9 and 10 is to clarify that the definition of programme schedule in the Bill encompasses both audiovisual programmes and sound programmes and that references to programmes in the definition of sound broadcasting services are references to sound programmes. The purpose of amendment No. 11 was to correct a typographical error in the definition of video sharing platform serv…

I think the point the Senator makes relates to the next group of amendments.

The purpose of this group of amendments was to make provision in the Bill for an individual complaints mechanism as recommended by the online safety expert group in its comprehensive report. I acknowledge that this issue was of considerable interest and concern for Senators in this Chamber, particularly those who are members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media, and one that I committed to examining in detail before returning to this House. When I established the expert group…

This is a group of purely technical amendments made in the Dáil to insert a definition of "e-commerce directive" into section 2 of the 2009 Act, which concerns definitions. This was done to avoid repeating the title of the directive where it is referenced in the Bill.

This group of amendments made during the Bill's passage through the Dáil seeks to clarify that the jurisdictional test for when a relevant online service which is not a video-sharing platform service is established in Ireland is set out in Article 3 of the e-commerce directive. Amendment No. 14 contains the substantive section, a new section 2C to be inserted into the 2009 Act. Amendments Nos. 15 and 16 involve consequential renumbering. These amendments are purely to give greater legal clarity as to how jurisdicti…

Senators will recall that during the debate in the Seanad, I signalled that "party political programme" was intended to have the same meaning as "party political broadcast", namely, the short programmes carried on our public service broadcaster during electoral periods for the purpose of promoting a registered political party. The term "programme" was used in lieu of the term "broadcast" to ensure it encompassed both broadcasts broadcast by broadcasters and programmes made available by a relevant media service prov…

To provide flexibility, the provision refers to "specified times" rather than "electoral periods" to allow coimisiún na meán adapt to any change in policy in this regard. It will be a matter for the electoral commission. This will allow coimisiún na meán to change if anything happens at the electoral commission. It gives a flexibility to adapt but it is a matter for the electoral commission. It relates to how those commissions will work with each other because one will affect the other. There may be a need to come …

During the Seanad Committee and Report Stage debates on the Bill, a number of Senators indicated they considered the provision that prohibits broadcasters and providers of video on-demand services making available programmes which may reasonably be considered to cause harm or offence as being potentially contrary to the principles of freedom of expression. At that stage, I committed to examining the matter. Having examined and considered the matter, I brought amendments on the Dáil Committee Stage to qualify the st…

This group of amendments is intended to allow coimisiún na meán to make media service codes which promote gender balance on news and current affairs programmes on radio, television and video on-demand services, and to promote the broadcasting of musical works composed or performed by women on radio services. A key goal of mine, as Minister, is to further gender equality within every sector under my remit and to collaborate closely with my Government colleagues to drive change across other key Departments. It is an …

The purpose of this group of amendments is to provide absolute clarity that coimisiún na meán can dismiss a complaint in circumstances where it has already been effectively resolved under a code of practice prepared by a provider.

This is a technical amendment to remedy a drafting error in the Bill. This amendment will ensure a section 70 contractor can continue to benefit from the exemption as set out in section 71(3) of the Broadcasting Act 2009.

Amendments Nos. 70 and 71 remove the statutory requirements for RTÉ and TG4 to establish and to maintain their respective teletext services. This change was agreed in consultation with our public service broadcasters and is considered important to allow progression from outdated technologies with very small viewerships.

These amendments are intended to address an anomaly by removing the reference to "terminal". This change, though largely technical in nature, will future-proof the prominence rules to allow them to reflect continuing changes in the ways in which audiovisual content is accessed and viewed.

This group of amendments inserts into the Bill provisions which require that coimisiún na meán must give reasonable notice of an audit to a provider of its designated online service and to provide an opportunity for designated online platforms to make submissions in respect of an audit report prior to its publication. This is to ensure legal clarity on the operation of these provisions and to ensure audits are not delayed or challenged on the basis of a lack of notice given. Allowing for submissions would not chang…

Amendments Nos. 92 and 93 are to clarify that coimisiún na meán may make online safety guidance materials on the risk test for non-offence specific harmful online content and may make online safety guidance materials on matters relating to the online safety aspects of the Bill rather than simply in general. Amendment No. 94 is a consequential renumbering amendment.

These amendments will add existing offences from the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 relating to online flashing to the schedule of offence-specific harmful online content in the Bill. This will enable the online safety commissioner to make binding online safety codes that will apply to designated online service providers and that will require those providers to take measures to tackle online flashing.