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The Competition Authority has cleared, subject to certain conditions, a proposed acquisition by Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) of a Dublin local radio station, FM 104. SRH already own Today FM, the sole national commercial radio station. The acquisition had already been cleared by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, the regulator of the commercial broadcasting sector. However, media mergers are now subject also to specific requirements included in section 22 of the Competition Act 2002. Under that section the Competition Authority makes a determination on the proposed merger based on competition...

The Joyce estate, which holds the copyright in the works of James Joyce, has warned that it will sue for any breach of copyright occurring during the Bloomsday centenary festival, "ReJoyce Dublin 2004", to be held in June. The warnings have been given to the organisers of the festival, the Government, which is involved in organising some of the events, and RTÉ, the national broadcasting station, among others. The estate has taken legal action on previous occasions, for example in relation to a webcast celebration of Bloomsday and the publication of an anthology of twentieth century Irish writing...

The Supreme Court has decided that the supply of cable signal and the connection of viewers to cable are distinct services for the purposes of value added tax (VAT). The respondents, who were suppliers of cable television and radio services providing multi-channel viewing or listening, charged householders under separate headings for the connection of the service and the service itself (an initial fee to obtain the connection and then an annual fee for supply of the signal). VAT should therefore have been paid at a lower rate than in the case of a single supply. An EC Directive of 1977 requires...

Following the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Murphy v Ireland (judgment of 10 July 2003, see IRIS 2003-9: 3) that Ireland was not in breach of Article 10 ECHR, the Minister for Communications has decided to retain the ban on religious advertising. The ban had been invoked on a number of occasions to refuse advertisements, including the 2002 "Power to change" advertisements sponsored by the main Christian religions in the State (see IRIS 2003-2: 11). As a result, in March 2003, prior to the Court's decision, the Minister had initiated a public consultation on the issue, which...

As Ireland currently holds the presidency of the EU, the Minister for Communications has indicated that the protection of minors in the area of broadcasting will be one of his main priorities. The EU Commission is due to publish an update to the Recommendation on the Protection of Minors and Human Dignity in March with a view to a policy discussion on it at the meeting of the Council of Ministers in May. An informal Ministerial Council to be held in Ireland in early March will also discuss the future role of broadcasting in promoting and maintaining cultural diversity in an enlarged Europe.