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At their January 2013 meeting, the Compliance Committee of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) upheld a series of complaints made by viewers of Tonight with Vincent Browne, broadcast by TV3. The complaints were made in accordance with section 48 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 and, those complaints upheld claimed that the broadcast breached the requirement for fair, objective and impartial treatment of current affairs. The complaints relate to a current affairs programme that focused upon the forthcoming US Presidential election and was broadcast on 23 October 2012. The statements cited by...

On 19 February 2013, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published its latest reports on Ireland and Liechtenstein, adopted in the fourth monitoring cycle of the laws, policies and practices to combat racism in the member states of the Council of Europe (commentary on previous reports see IRIS 2003-5/3, IRIS 2005-7/2 and IRIS 2007-8/102). Only the report on Ireland contains a section focusing specifically on the media/Internet. In its fourth report, ECRI welcomes the positive developments in Ireland, including the establishment of the Office of the Press Ombudsman and...

On 6 December 2012 four music companies (EMI, Sony, Warner and Universal) launched a fresh legal bid aimed at blocking access on the part of Irish Internet users to the file-sharing website The Pirate Bay. This is the first legal action taken under the controversial copyright injunction law that was introduced in February 2012 (see IRIS 2012-4/31). The European Union (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2012 permit the owner of the copyright or a related right in a work to apply to the High Court for an injunction against an intermediary whose services are used by a third party to infringe...

At 10:00 am on 24 October 2012 Ireland’s analogue television signal was switched off. Analogue technology had been used to transmit and receive television signals in Ireland since television broadcasting started in 1962. This completes Ireland’s digital switchover from analogue to digital television services and meets the European Union target of 2012 for analogue switch-off. The switchover was coordinated with the digital switchover in Northern Ireland. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Irish Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the United Kingdom’s...

On 12 October 2012 the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) announced the outcome of consultations on the revision of the General and Children’s Commercial Communications Codes (see IRIS 2011-7/29). The revised Codes will deal, in particular, with the approach to be taken to products that are high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS). The BAI is required under section 42 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 to develop advertising codes to protect the general public health interests of children and may prohibit the advertising in a broadcasting service of a particular class or classes of foods. Prior to the...