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• GAZETTE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1988

In

this

Issue

Viewpoint 3

Inheritance Tax on

Discretionary Trusts 5 Practice Notes 11

President's Column

12

Daii Debates

15

Expert Systems and

Communications 17

International Bar

Association 22 Book Review 23 Professional Information 25

Executive Editor:

Mary Buckley

Editorial Board:

Charles R. M. Meredith, Chairman

John F. Buckley

Gary Byrne

Daire Murphy

Maxwell Sweeney

Advertising:

Liam O hOisin. Telephone: 305236

307860

Printing:

Turner's Printing Co. Ltd., Longford.

*

The views expressed in this publication,

save where otherwise indicated, are the

views of the contributors and not

necessarily the views of the Council of

the Society.

The appearance of an advertisement in

this publication does not necessarily

indicate approval by the Society for the

product or service advertised.

Published at Blackball Place, Dublin 7.

Tel.: 710711.

Telex: 31219.

Fax: 710704.

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. •

3