FIANNA Fail is to put forward proposals to protect viewing rights to the major sporting and cultural events from being bought by satellite television services.
The party's spokeswoman on arts, culture and heritage, Ms Sile de Valera, said yesterday that she was preparing a Private Member's Bill to provide the legal framework to ensure the universality of access to major events and to restrict the "monopolisation of events by minority paid-channels."
Ms de Valera said the Bill would be introduced in the next Dail term and would list the events to be protected.
It was feared some Irish sporting events might be bought by pay-per-view channels to increase audiences. Those events would not then be generally available.
Ms de Valera said proposals being circulated by the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, for new broadcasting legislation did not go far enough. Mr Higgins's proposals could well be challenged under EU competition rules.
Mr Higgins has circulated a memo to Government Departments concerning the new legislation. It includes a 10 per cent quota for Irish-language programmes on RTE television; a new broadcasting authority to take over from both the RTE Authority and the Independent Radio and Television Commission; as well as other proposals, which were in his Green Paper on Broadcasting.
His proposals have not yet received Cabinet approval and could be radically altered before being presented to the Dail.
Mr Higgins has been promising legislation on broadcasting for some time, but he has been criticised by the Opposition for delaying and waiting "for the dying hours of the Rainbow Coalition to bring forward the Broadcasting Bill".
Ms de Valera described the proposals, as they have been reported in the media, as nothing more than a "rehash" of his Green Paper.
It is expected that his proposal for a 10 per cent quota for Irish-language programmes will attract criticism, even from within the Cabinet, especially following the creation of the Irish language station, Teilifis an Gaeilge.
Mr Higgins's proposals are expected to go to Cabinet in January. He plans a fundamental review of broadcasting and it is believed the parliamentary draughtsman is working on the heads of a Bill.