Membership of the new broadcasting complaints commission was announced yesterday. It includes a newspaper editor from the appointing Minister's own constituency.
The five members, appointed by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, include two representatives of the legal profession, the editor of the Clare Champion, an insurance broker and auctioneer, and a regional director with FAS.
They have been appointed to deal with complaints relating to news, current affairs, invasion of privacy, advertising and published matters broadcast by RTE and local radio stations.
Members include a barrister, Ms Oonah McCrann, who trained as a presenter and producer in RTE in the mid-1980s. She held the chair of the Bar Council's media liaison committee from 1996 to 1998. Ms McCrann was appointed to the barristers' professional conduct tribunal in 1998.
The second legal representative is Ms Kay Cogan-Daly, a solicitor in Rathgar, Dublin. She established her own firm in 1989.
Also appointed is Mr Joseph G. Brady, an insurance broker and auctioneer with offices in Co Roscommon and Co Leitrim. He is a founding member and was president of the Institute of Insurance Brokers of Ireland. Joining them will be Mr Christy Cooney, a regional director of FAS for the mid-west region, based in Limerick. He was a member of the IRTC from 1993 to 1998.
The only journalist on the commission will be Mr Gerry Collison, editor of the Clare Champion. A native of Co Offaly, he has served as an officer with the South West Branch of the National Union of Journalists and was a member of the union's national executive.