The Minister for Communications, Mr Dempsey, last night made it clear that he does not favour establishing an appeals panel to review radio licensing decisions.
A recent report to the Government recommends establishing an appeals panel to review licensing decisions made by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI).
However, according to a supplied script, Mr Dempsey told the BCI's annual conference last night that he was not convinced that this would work.
"I remain to be convinced that an appeal, other than on grounds of process, is justifiable," he said. "At the end of the day, there will be a body which must take the final decision as to who should be awarded any given licence.
"It is the body with the responsibility to take that decision that has the real power. I am of the view that the body best placed to take such decisions is the BCI," he said.
The courts provide the only means of appealing BCI decisions.
The commission recently made it clear to the Government that it did not favour an appeals body with the power to review its decisions.
Responding to the Government-commission report (known as the Ox Report), the body said that such a mechanism could possibly undermine the BCI itself.
"Given that there are a number of subjective elements in determining applicants, consistency in decision-making would become difficult," it said.
"Furthermore, a danger would exist that every licence decision would be referred to the appeals board, thereby potentially undermining and questioning the necessity for the BCI board," it added.
Last year, a number of companies went to court to challenge a BCI decision to revise radio licence franchise areas.
