A more selective ban on religious-related advertising is to be considered by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands.

Ms de Valera said that if an appropriate amendment could be drafted, she would introduce it during the committee stage debate on the Broadcasting Bill which she hoped to publish soon.

"I believe it would be extremely difficult to regulate religious advertising in the same way as advertising for goods and services are regulated. How does one determine if an advertisement directed towards a religious end is truthful?

"There is no product or service being sold. While religious advertisers may hold their beliefs with the utmost conviction, the claims made in such advertisements are matters of belief and not measurable by any objective standard."

The Minister was responding to a Fine Gael Bill, moved in private member's time, to amend a 1988 Act to ensure that reasonable radio advertising of religious magazines and periodicals could take place.

Mr Gay Mitchell (FG, Dublin South Central) who moved the Radio and Television (Amendment) Bill, 1999, with Mr Enda Kenny (FG, Mayo) said the advertisement should be allowed if the journal or newspaper was a bona fide publication and the nature of the advertisement was directed to the promotion of the journal or newspaper and was not sectarian or directed towards a political end.

He added that the need for such an amendment arose because the IRTC interpreted the 1988 Act in such a way as to ban "an innocuous" advertisement for a respected journal, the Irish Catholic. "It is most alarming that no government spokesperson has commented on this issue."

Indicating that she would oppose the Bill, Ms de Valera said there were no definitions or parameters within which the IRTC would exercise the powers conferred on it. "There are no safeguards or recourse provided for those who are aggrieved by the decisions which the IRTC might take if this Bill were enacted."

Debate on the Bill continues tonight.