New advertising codes for broadcast media will aim to protect children from junk food advertising, the Green Party conference heard today.
Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan told the event in Dundalk he would seek to enshrine such protections in the forthcoming Broadcasting Bill.
“All broadcasting companies, whether they are publicly or privately funded, have access to a valuable public resource. Broadcasters have a responsibility to follow the codes which protect the wider public interest from individual commercial interests,” he said.
“In the upcoming Broadcasting Bill I plan to get that balance right in the development of new advertising codes.
“We need to protect our children from the advertising of food products which are high in sugar, fats or salts. This will help parents in their task of raising our children well.”
On the economy and climate change, Mr Ryan said the Green Party was “the first party to understand the spectre of climate change and resource depletion as the defining issues of our time”.
He said both issues would have a major impact on our economic as well as our environmental futures.
“The current rise in energy and food costs and the resulting credit crisis will all make the business of Government more difficult.”
Mr Ryan said his own ministry holds “some of the crucial levers of economic policy”.
“Our task is to direct the retreat from fossil fuels and advance our country into an enterprising, digital and sustainable economic age. This will secure the jobs and investment of the future."