Committee Reports > List of Committees > Seanad > 1970 > Select Committee on Statutory Instruments > Report No. 01 - Statutory Instrument [1]

APPENDIX II.

Censorship of Films (Fees) Order, 1969 (S.I. No. 72 of 1969).

(i)

An Rúnaí,

An Roinn Dlí agus Cirt.

I am directed by the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments to refer to the Censorship of Films (Fees) Order, 1969 [S.I. No. 72 of 1969].

The Committee notes that paragraph 2(2) of the order prescribes that “no fee shall be charged in respect of a film which, in the opinion of the Official Censor, is of an educational nature.” The Committee also notes that the Censorship of Films Act, 1923 provides [Section 11 (1)] that “there shall be charged in respect of applications to the Official Censor . . . such fees as the Minister, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance shall from time to time fix.”

It seems to the Committee that this provision makes it mandatory to charge fees and assigns to the Minister only the function of determining the amounts payable but gives him no power to exempt any applicant from the obligation to pay fees. The Committee would appreciate the assistance of your Department’s observations on the matter.

Cléireach an Roghchoiste.

16 Meitheamh, 1969.

(ii)

Cléireach an Roghchoiste,

um Ionstraimí Reachtúla,

Seanad Éireann,

Baile Átha Cliath.

I am directed by the Minister for Justice to refer to your minute of 16 June regarding the Censorship of Films (Fees) Order 1969 [S.I. No. 72 of 1969] and to inform you that after consultation with the Attorney General he wishes to offer the following observations:

It is evident that, while section 11 is mandatory as a whole, a particular fee may be fixed at a purely nominal amount: in effect the section is mandatory in form only, not in substance. The view that the Minister cannot exempt but must instead adopt the course of fixing a purely nominal fee, would seem to be unduly rigid, and has called forth the comment of the law officers “de minimis non curat lex”.

The Minister wishes to point out, furthermore, that educational films have been exempt from censorship fees since the censorship system was established over 46 years ago and that, until now, none of the relevant Orders has been questioned regarding the exemption, by Senate Committees or otherwise.

23 Iúil, 1969.

(iii)

An Rúnaí,

An Roinn Dlí agus Cirt.

I am directed by the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments to refer to your minute of 23 Iúil, 1969 regarding the Censorship of Films (Fees) Order, 1969 [S.I. No. 72 of 1969] and to state that the Committee would be glad to have clarification as to why it is considered that Section 11 of the Censorship of Films Act, 1923 is mandatory in form only, and not in substance.

Cléireach an Roghchoiste.

15 Eanáir, 1970.

(iv)

Cléireach an Roghchoiste,

um Ionstraimí Reachtúla.

I am directed by the Minister for Justice to refer to your minute of 15th January, 1970, regarding the Censorship of Films (Fees) Order, 1969.

The statements in the second paragraph of the reply of 23rd July were based on the legal advice tendered to the Minister. The Minister does not feel free to ask for additional explanations of the legal advice tendered to him and, at this stage, can only express his own view on the point raised by the Committee.

The statement that the section is mandatory in form only and not in substance is meant to be taken as valid only in the context in which it is made, that is to say, in relation to a particular fee or particular fees but, of course, not in relation to the fees as a whole. The statement is, in effect, only another way of making the point that, while the section is mandatory as a whole, it does not in its terms exclude the fixing of a particular fee at a purely nominal rate (e.g. one penny per film) and, if a purely nominal fee may be fixed—a fee so low that it would not even meet the cost of collecting it—it would be an excessively rigid and legalistic interpretation to say that a complete exemption may not be given.

It is, perhaps, of some practical, even if not necessarily of any legal, significance, to mention that the fees are required by law to cover outlay on film censorship, but not to make a profit. The fees are paid by the film-renters. There is only a small number of renters and they have regular contacts with the Department not only in connection with such matters as the level of fees and the basis on which some accounting calculations are made but also on other matters of interest to them. But, as far as can be ascertained from the records, they have never, in the course of the 46 years since the present system came into force, raised any objection to the distinction drawn by the Fees Orders between different types of film, viz., (a) educational; (b) topical, travel or interest; and (c) other kinds.

29 Eanáir, 1970.