Broadcasting Authority Act , 1960

1 Interpretation.

1.—(1) In this Act—

“the Act of 1926” means the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1926;

“the Authority” has the meaning specified in subsection (1) of section 3 of this Act;

“broadcast” and “broadcasting station” have the same meanings as in the Act of 1926, as amended by this Act;

“broadcasting licence fee” means a fee paid on a licence granted under section 5 of the Act of 1926 in respect of apparatus for receiving only;

“the Commissioners” means the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland;

“the Director-General” has the meaning specified in section 11 of this Act;

“the establishment day” means the day appointed to be the establishment day for the purposes of this Act by order of the Minister under section 2 of this Act;

“functions” includes powers and duties;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs.

(2) A reference in this Act to performance of functions includes, with respect to powers, a reference to exercise of powers.

2 Appointment of establishment day.

2.—The Minister may by order appoint a day to be the establishment day for the purposes of this Act.

3 Establishment of Authority.

3.—(1) There shall, by virtue of this section, be established on the establishment day an authority to be known as Radio Éireann (in this Act referred to as the Authority).

(2) The Authority shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and power to sue and be sued in its corporate name and to acquire, hold and dispose of land.

4 Members of Authority.

4.—(1) The members of the Authority shall be appointed by the Government and shall be not less than seven and not more than nine in number.

(2) The period of office of a member of the Authority shall be such period, not exceeding five years, as the Government may determine when appointing him.

(3) A member of the Authority whose term of office expires by effluxion of time shall be eligible for re-appointment.

(4) A member of the Authority may at any time resign his office as member by letter sent to the Government, and the resignation shall take effect on receipt of the letter.

(5) Where a member of the Authority is nominated either as a candidate for election to either House of the Oireachtas or as a member of Seanad Eireann, he shall thereupon cease to be a member of the Authority.

(6) A person who is for the time being entitled under the Standing Orders of either House of the Oireachtas to sit therein shall, while so entitled, be disqualified from becoming a member of the Authority.

5 Remuneration and terms of office of members of Authority.

5.—(1) A member of the Authority shall be paid, out of funds at the disposal of the Authority,—

(a) such remuneration as may be fixed from time to time by the Government, and

(b) such amounts in respect of expenses as the Authority considers reasonable.

(2) Subject to subsection (1) of this section, a member of the Authority shall hold office on such terms as the Government may determine from time to time.

(3) The Minister shall cause the terms of employment and remuneration of the members of the Authority to be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas.

6 Removal of member of Authority.

6.—The Government may at any time remove a member of the Authority from office.

7 Chairman of Authority.

7.—(1) The Government shall from time to time as occasion requires appoint a member of the Authority to be chairman thereof.

(2) The chairman of the Authority shall, unless he sooner dies, resigns the office of chairman or ceases to be chairman under subsection (4) of this section, hold office until the expiration of his period of office as a member of the Authority.

(3) The chairman of the Authority may at any time resign his office as chairman by letter sent to the Government, and the resignation shall, unless it is previously withdrawn in writing, take effect at the commencement of the meeting of the Authority held next after the Authority has been informed by the Government of the resignation.

(4) Where the chairman of the Authority ceases during his term of office as chairman to be a member of the Authority, he shall also then cease to be chairman of the Authority.

8 Disclosure by member of Authority of interest in proposed contract.

8.—A member of the Authority who has—

(a) any interest in any company or concern with which the Authority proposes to make any contract, or

(b) any interest in any contract which the Authority proposes to make,

shall disclose to the Authority the fact of the interest and the nature thereof, and shall take no part in any deliberation or decision of the Authority relating to the contract, and the disclosure shall be recorded in the minutes of the Authority.

9 Seal of Authority.

9.—(1) The Authority shall as soon as may be after its establishment provide itself with a seal.

(2) The seal of the Authority shall be authenticated by the signature of the chairman of the Authority or some other member thereof authorised by the Authority to act in that behalf and the signature of an officer of the Authority authorised by the Authority to act in that behalf.

(3) Judicial notice shall be taken of the seal of the Authority, and every document purporting to be an instrument made by the Authority and to be sealed with the seal (purporting to be authenticated in accordance with this section) of the Authority shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be such instrument without further proof unless the contrary is shown.

10 Meetings and procedure of Authority.

10.—(1) The Authority shall hold such and so many meetings as may be necessary for the due fulfilment of its functions.

(2) The Minister may fix the date, time and place of the first meeting of the Authority.

(3) At a meeting of the Authority—

(a) the chairman of the Authority shall, if present, be chairman of the meeting,

(b) if and so long as the chairman of the Authority is not present or if the office of chairman is vacant, the members of the Authority who are present shall choose one of their number to be chairman of the meeting.

(4) Every question at a meeting of the Authority shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present and voting on the question, and in the case of an equal division of votes, the chairman of the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.

(5) The Authority may act notwithstanding one or more vacancies among its members.

(6) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Authority shall regulate its procedure by rules.

(7) The quorum of the Authority shall be fixed by the rules made under the foregoing subsection, but—

(a) it shall not be less than three, and

(b) until it is so fixed, it shall be three.

11 Director-General.

11.—The Authority shall from time to time appoint a person to be the chief executive officer of the Authority, and such person shall be known, and is in this Act referred to, as the Director-General.

12 Officers and servants (other than the Director-General) of Authority.

12.—(1) The Authority shall, as well as appointing the Director-General, appoint such and so many other persons to be officers and servants of the Authority as the Authority from time to time thinks proper, but, subject to subsection (2) of this section, a person shall not be appointed under this section to be an officer of the Authority unless he has been selected by means of a public competition.

(2) The requirement under subsection (1) of this section of being selected by means of a public competition shall not apply in relation to:

(i) a person who, immediately before the establishment day, was an officer of the Minister employed in the broadcasting service,

(ii) an appointment consisting of the promotion of a person who is already an officer of the Authority,

(iii) an office for which, in the opinion of the Authority, specialised qualifications not commonly held are required, or

(iv) an office to which appointments are made for limited periods only, being periods not exceeding two years.

13 Tenure of office or employment, etc.

13.—(1) An officer or servant of the Authority shall hold his office or employment on such terms and conditions as the Authority from time to time determines.

(2) There shall be paid by the Authority to its officers and servants such remuneration and allowances as the Authority from time to time determines.

(3) The Authority may at any time remove any officer or servant of the Authority from being its officer or servant.

(4) Notwithstanding the foregoing subsections of this section, the consent of the Minister shall be necessary before the Authority appoints or removes the Director-General, or alters his remuneration or his terms and conditions of holding office.

14 Performance of functions by officers or servants.

14.—The Authority may perform any of its functions through or by any of its officers or servants duly authorised by the Authority in that behalf.

15 Superannuation of officers and servants of Authority.

15.—(1) As soon as may be after the establishment day the Authority shall prepare and submit to the Minister a contributory scheme or schemes for the granting of pensions, gratuities and other allowances on retirement to or in respect of such officers or servants of the Authority as it may think fit.

(2) Every such scheme shall fix the time and conditions of retirement for all persons to or in respect of whom pensions, gratuities or allowances on retirement are payable under the scheme, and different times and conditions may be fixed in respect of different classes of persons.

(3) The Authority may at any time prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme amending a scheme previously submitted and approved of under this section.

(4) (a) The Minister may determine the provisions with respect to pensions, gratuities and other allowances which are to be made pursuant to this section in relation to any of the officers and servants of the Authority who, immediately before the establishment day, were officers and servants of the Minister employed in the broadcasting service.

(b) Any such provision may, if the Minister so thinks proper, have effect as on and from a day, not earlier than the 1st day of January, 1960, before the day of the Minister's determination.

(c) The provisions determined under this subsection shall be communicated by the Minister to the Authority and the Authority shall include them in the first scheme prepared and submitted under this section.

(d) Where—

(i) a person dies or retires on the ground of ill-health before the 31st day of December, 1961, and while he is an officer or servant of the Minister, and

(ii) such person was, while an officer or servant of the Minister employed in the broadcasting service, informed by the Minister that the first scheme under this section would apply to him if he became an officer or servant of the Authority,

then, unless the Minister otherwise directs, the first scheme under this section shall apply to him and there shall be paid to or in respect of him such benefits under the scheme as would have been payable if he had been at the date of his death or retirement a member of the scheme.

(5) A scheme submitted to the Minister under this section shall, if approved of by the Minister with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, be carried out by the Authority in accordance with its terms.

(6) If any dispute arises as to the claim of any person to, or the amount of, any pension, gratuity or allowance payable in pursuance of a scheme under this section, such dispute shall be submitted to the Minister who shall refer it to the Minister for Finance, whose decision shall be final.

(7) Every scheme submitted and approved of under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is approved of and if either House, within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the scheme is laid before it, passes a resolution annulling the scheme, the scheme shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

16 Functions of Authority generally.

16.—(1) The Authority shall establish and maintain a national television and sound broadcasting service and shall have all such powers as are necessary for or incidental to that purpose.

(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, the Authority shall have the following powers:

(a) to establish, maintain and operate broadcasting stations and to acquire, install and operate apparatus for wireless telegraphy;

(b) to provide, by arrangements made for the purpose with the Minister and any other person, for the distribution, by means of relaying, of programmes broadcast by the Authority;

(c) to originate programmes and procure programmes from any source;

(d) to make contracts, agreements and arrangements incidental or conducive to the objects of the Authority;

(e) to acquire and make use of copyrights, patents, licences, privileges and concessions;

(f) to collect news and information and to subscribe to news services and such other services as may be conducive to the objects of the Authority;

(g) to subscribe to such international associations, and to such educational, musical and dramatic bodies and such other bodies promoting entertainment or culture, as may be conducive to the objects of the Authority;

(h) to arrange with other broadcasting authorities for the receipt, exchange and relay of programmes;

(i) to organise, provide and subsidise concerts and other entertainments in connection with the broadcasting service or for any purpose incidental thereto and, in relation to any such concert or entertainment, to provide or procure accommodation and, if desired, to make charges for admission;

(j) subject to the consent of the Minister, to prepare, publish and distribute, with or without charge, such magazines, books, papers and other printed matter as may seem to the Authority to be conducive or incidental to its objects;

(k) subject to the consent of the Minister, to compile, publish, distribute, sell and exchange recorded aural and visual material.

(3) (a) The powers conferred on the Authority by virtue of paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (2) of this section shall not be exercised save under licence issued by the Minister and in accordance with any conditions attached by the Minister to such licences.

(b) During any emergency declared under section 10 of the Act of 1926, the Minister may suspend any licence under this subsection and, while any such suspension continues, the Minister may operate any service which was provided by the Authority under the suspended licence.

(c) A copy of every licence under this subsection shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after the issue of the licence.

17 General duty with respect to national aims.

17.—In performing its functions, the Authority shall bear constantly in mind the national aims of restoring the Irish language and preserving and developing the national culture and shall endeavour to promote the attainment of those aims.

18 Impartiality.

18.—(1) It shall be the duty of the Authority to secure that, when it broadcasts any information, news or feature which relates to matters of public controversy or is the subject of current public debate, the information, news or feature is presented objectively and impartially and without any expression of the Authority's own views.

(2) Nothing in this section shall prevent the Authority from transmitting political party broadcasts.

19 Approval of periods of broadcasting.

19.—The periods fixed by the Authority for broadcasting shall be subject to the approval of the Minister.

20 Advertisements.

20.—(1) The Authority may broadcast advertisements, may fix charges and conditions for such broadcasts and, in fixing the charges, may provide for different circumstances and for additional special charges to be made in special cases.

(2) The Authority may reject any advertisement presented for broadcast in whole or in part.

(3) The total daily time fixed by the Authority for broadcasting advertisements, and the distribution, determined by the Authority, of that time throughout the programmes, shall be subject to the approval of the Minister.

(4) The Authority shall not accept any advertisement which is directed towards any religious or political end or has any relation to any industrial dispute.

(5) (a) In acting pursuant to this section, the Authority shall have regard to the special position of Irish advertisers and may fix reduced charges and preferential conditions for advertisements from them which are Irish advertisements.

(b) For the purposes of the foregoing paragraph, each of the following advertisers shall be an Irish advertiser:

(i) an advertiser who advertises articles, being articles with respect to which he satisfies the Authority that they are made, produced or manufactured wholly or substantially within the State,

(ii) an advertiser who advertises services, provided that he satisfies the Authority either that the services are provided wholly or substantially within the State or that his sole or principal place of business as a person providing those services is situate within the State,

(iii) an advertiser who advertises activities other than services, being activities with respect to which he satisfies the Authority that they are conducted wholly or substantially within the State,

and an advertisement by reference to which an advertiser is an Irish advertiser shall be an Irish advertisement.

(6) Charges and conditions referred to in subsection (1) or subsection (5) of this section may be fixed subject to variations benefiting advertisers who use the Irish language in their advertisements.

(7) A power under this section to fix charges and conditions shall be construed as including a power to cancel or vary any charges or conditions fixed under such power and, where charges or conditions are cancelled, to fix other charges or conditions in lieu of those cancelled.

(8) In this section references to advertisements shall be construed as including references to advertising matter in sponsored programmes, that is to say, programmes supplied for advertising purposes by or on behalf of an advertiser.

21 Advice to Authority.

21.—(1) For the purpose of enabling the Authority to have advice in performing its functions, the Minister, after consultation with the Authority, may from time to time appoint advisory committees or advisers.