Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the representatives from RTE. I should declare my interest. I know it is stating the obvious, but I spent all of my broadcasting career i the public service. I have a very strong empathy with RTE. I know most of their representatives here. It does not give me any great pleasure to be in a situation where I am effectively attempting to reflect and respond to what the Chairman referred to in his own remarks, to a huge upsurge of reaction, much of it emotional as well as practical, about the decision that RTE has taken.
The core of the decision goes to the relationship between the Irish establishment, such as it is - and that includes RTE - and the Irish diaspora in Britain. Those who represent this community see it as an insult, as a slap in the face, as a shutting of the door. It is full of symbolism, apart from the practicalities. Earlier this morning I took a call from Ms Sally Mulready, who was appointed by the President, Mr. Michael D. Higgins, to the Council of State. She is a voice for the Irish in Britain and has been long involved, particularly, in helping the aged in Britain. I understand that she will probably be meeting with Mr. Coakley's delegation when it visits the UK shortly, which I welcome. It is very important that RTE consult as widely as possible with the Irish community in Britain when it sends a delegation abroad.
To give an indication to the members of the committee of the depth of feeling there is, the two major newspapers that service the Irish diaspora in Britain are theIrish Post and the Irish World. TheIrish Postran a headline last week stating that "RTE [is] accused of 'ignoring diaspora' with longwave axe".

It quotes people such as the author of "A Hidden History - Irish in Liverpool", Tony Birtill, who stated long wave plays a big part in elderly people's lives in the Irish community. Mr. Birtill stated, "If you go around to a lot of houses in Liverpool, they’ll have it on permanently to 252", and that, "Many such people live alone and RTE 1 on long wave is a very important means for them to stay in touch with Ireland, and the outside world generally". This encapsulates the general view all of us have seen in the e-mails and phone calls we have received. An individual known to all the witnesses, and in particular Mr. Coakley because he has communicated for years on digital, is Enda O'Kane, who worked as an engineer with RTE. His view is that embracing digital audio broadcasting has not come about primarily because it is not seen as a viable option. It has not developed. I ask Mr. Coakley to correct me if I am wrong because I am not a technical person like the Chairman. I do not believe the BBC has embraced DAB. It is a controversial option and I am not at all surprised that independent radio in Ireland has not embraced it because of the question marks surrounding it.

There is symbolism attached to this, and it is very important that RTE as the national broadcaster addresses these issues because they will arise, as reflected in what has already been stated publicly. This is how Irish people see it. One man who wrote to me stated he thought it was a disgraceful decision. Another man stated it made him very angry and that it was a smack in the face for the Irish in Britain and made a nonsense of President Higgins's remarks during his State visit in May about how much modern Ireland appreciates its emigrants. He stated the Irish establishment likes to pick their pockets as tourists and investors but is unwilling to provide them with an adequate radio link. This is very emotional but is reflective of what people think and say and cannot be ignored. This is what the witnesses will get when they visit England.

Approximately two weeks ago, the committee received a letter from the Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment of the Northern Ireland Assembly about this issue, such is its concern. I had not factored in the Northern Ireland dimension. The witnesses stated there is 85% coverage, but one man stated RTE FM reception in the North is only good within 25 miles of the Border, and that when one drives up the A1 the FM signal goes by the time one reaches Sprucefield, so to listen to RTE radio in Belfast in the car, one needs the long wave service. Will the witnesses address this in particular? He spoke about it being a short-sighted penny-pinching decision. Obviously it is having an impact in Northern Ireland given that the Northern Ireland Assembly committee saw fit to write to this committee. The witnesses need to address this issue with regard to long wave.

Mr. Maguire made a very interesting point. When Mr. Jennings was on the radio yesterday with Seán O'Rourke, he spoke about the 252 service being off the air for a couple of days. Mr. Maguire is quoted as stating that due to technical problems earlier this year, long wave RTE was off the air for an entire Sunday and only seven complaints were received. I thought about this as a former emigrant. Emigrants are somewhat disconnected from mainstream Ireland. The chances are that many people were probably very upset about the fact it went off the air but they did not know how to complain or to where to make a complaint, especially given the demographics. They did not know how one complains to RTE. Perhaps they thought something was wrong with the radio because it was off for a few hours. The demographic listening are not people who are into satellite dishes, DAB or other digital platforms.

I suggest the overwhelming majority of people who listen to long wave in the UK do so in their cars. There is huge trade between Britain and Ireland, and anyone who travels over and back to Britain, such as truck drivers, people on holidays or commercial traffic, listens. The first thing I do when I use the ferry after medium wave goes is to switch to long wave to pick up RTE.

One will get it as far away as London. London generally has been a difficult transmission area. I am sorry to go on about this but it is so important for the Irish in Britain that I want to try to marshal as much strong feeling as possible about it. We are here to try to reflect their views. I welcome the fact that RTE has deferred the decision and that it is going to embark on a consultative process with the Irish communities in Britain or those who represent them. Why does it cost €250,000 for what is effectively a re-broadcast of an existing service? There is no new programming on 252.

This is not just an operational matter. This is a policy issue for the Government. I may sound partisan but the Government appointed a Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora. He is aware of this. If RTE has a financial difficulty in this regard, the Government should step in, as the British Government does in funding the BBC overseas service, which offsets any reduction in its long wave service because it will continue to operate a service to its diaspora.