The Gazette 1988

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• GAZETTE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1988
In
this
Issue
Inheritance Tax on
President's Column 12
Daii Debates 15
Expert Systems and
International Bar
•
Executive Editor:
Mary Buckley
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John F. Buckley
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GAZETTE INCORPORATE D
LAW SOCIETY
OF IRELAND
Vol. 82 No. 1 Jan/Feb 1988
Viewpoint
PIRATE RADIOS
Hopefully, the recently introduced
Sound Br oadcas t i ng Bill and
Br oadcas t i ng and Wireless
Telegraphy Bill will reach the
statute book w i th reasonable
promptitude.
The Sound Broadcasting Bill,
wh i ch provides for the
establishment of a system of local
radio stations, is not without its
defects. The previous govern-
ment's plans for local radio appear
to have foundered on the Labour
Party's insistence on RTE having a
dominant part in local broad-
casting. The present Bill and the
Minister's comments on it suggest
that he may be about to hoist
himself on an equally ill-aimed
petard - the complete exclusion of
RTE. This would surely be as
mistaken as the earlier proposal.
RTE has served this country well
over the years - it gets tired and
middle aged from time to time and
needs rejuvenation - but its
s t anda r ds are high and the
broadcasters it has trained can hold
their own in any company.
In his speech on the second
stage of the Sound Broadcasting
Bill, the Minister indicated that he
proposed to amend a provision of
the Bill which had drawn the
greatest c r i t i c i sm when first
announced, namely t hat t he
Minister appeared to be reserving
the power to over-ride the views of
the Advisory Committee which is
to be established to monitor the
app l i ca t i ons for b r oadcas t i ng
licences. The amendment will
provide that the Minister must
accept the recommendation of the
Advisory Committee.
Unfortunately, the Minister has
said nothing about the other major
complaint which has been made,
namely, that those who have been
involved in running pirate radio
stations are not to be proscribed
from receiving licences.
There is no area of law
enforcement in which various
governments have been so lax as
in the area of pirate broadcasting.
It has never been explained clearly
what were the great defects in the
previous legislation wh i ch
prevented the authorities from
successfully prosecuting operators
of pirate radio stations. Neither
was it ever made clear why other
me t hods, other t han direct
prosecution, could not have been
used to attack these stations. Not
alone t ha t, but there are
suggestions that some of these
stations may in fact have received
grants from local or semi-state
sources. It also appears that
advertisers may have been able to
treat the costs of their advertising
as legitimate expenses when
compiling their tax returns. If the
activity of pirate broadcasting was
illegal, then such illegality must
surely taint all transactions directly
connected with it. It may not be
too late for the Revenue authorities
to take an appropriate view of such
advertisers and act accordingly*.
Only by inserting a provision in
the Bill which will prevent the
Adv i so ry Comm i t t ee f r om
considering applications from any
persons who were involved in the
management and control of pirate
radio stations can the Oireachtas
regain any credibility from the
State in this area.
* Not only PA YE payers, but all tax payers
have a grievance here. •
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