Michael Conaghan (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests. I watch TG4 much more often that I initially thought I would because it is a highly engaging channel. While I do not understand much of the vernacular, the reason I watch so many TG4 programmes is that their content is strongly visual. The channel has brought a new eye and ear to matters of Irish interest which many of the other broadcasters have never captured or did not believe were worth exploring. For example, one would not expect a programme on labourers in England, principally ordinary men who were working in tunnels and on roads, to be very engaging. However, the human side of the story penetrates and makes the programme very engaging. While I did that type of work for a long time, my wife, who is a great follower of TG4, never worked as a labourer. She likes the channel because it takes ordinary things and makes them extraordinary, appealing and engaging and she and I have both become regular viewers.

As well as Irish labourers working in Britain, TG4 addresses the issue of emigration generally, including to America. It does not always focus on those who have made it big, earned a great deal of money and returned to show off their success in Galway or Donegal but addresses topics that have been neglected and aspects of the experience of Irish people in America that are not normally explored. One of its strengths is that it shows the fate of emigrants and features strong human interest stories and other issues that remained unexplored until now.

TG4 also features little corners of Ireland that have been neglected or that people have never bothered about. Its programme makers go to these places to build a story of the area, perhaps using as a focal point a river and its salmon or trout fishing or the scenic value of a waterway or mountainous area. It is amazing how engaging such programmes can become simply through their visual impact and the personality and sound of a landscape or river. The story lines are frequently simple but profound in that they have a hidden quality which engages those who are willing to be engaged, as more and more people are. Ordinary topics have become extraordinary and TG4 explores rich seams of the human experience of Irish people in different settings, contexts and spheres which mainstream broadcasters such as the BBC and RTE do not consider to be sufficiently interesting.

The interest is there, if it can be found and presented.