Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I thank the Chair and welcome the delegation on what is an interesting debate. I am an RTE radio listener. By and large I compliment the delegation on the improvements made particularly in the area of documentaries and music. It is not the only radio station I listen to. I listen to a good deal of radio because television is rather boring and has gone tabloid. One can hide in one's radio much better. I am a great admirer of the BBC in terms of the quality of its programmes and in many respects RTE has managed to match it and exceed it. I am not so sure about some of its current affairs programmes during the period of the collapse of our little country. At times, some of those who were broadcasting current affairs threw most of our children out of the country as it was so morbid but sin scéal eile.

Like Senator Paschal Mooney I took the boat to England in the 1980s. I was fascinated that the generation ahead of me had their radios welded on one station. In the beginning I thought it was sad that people would be that fixed. These were people, aunts and uncles, who left Ireland during the 1930s and 1940s, and who raised British children but still had their radio welded on this one station. That was remarkable. The music they listened to was music that my generation did not listen to; we were trying to get something louder. It is a fact of life, that is the way people were. That applied not only in London but elsewhere. I met friends in Glasgow and Edinburgh who have a huge Donegal connection and the fixation with the one station was an exact replica. I used to wonder why people, British citizens, would listen to the "News at One" and current affairs on what was going in Ireland. I came to the conclusion, given that these people would not move the dial to other stations, which I will not mention, that the older the person the more precious RTE was to them, especially at weekends.

In various workplaces I met Irish people who, on a Monday morning - I am not sure if they talked about Senator Paschal Mooney's programme - certainly talked about other programmes, many of the names of which I did not know. In the 1980s people in the workplace talked about what was on RTE and I am sure that continued into the 1990s and it was precious to them. I have no doubt that in time the long wave transmitter will eventually fade out. I am not here to argue that point with the delegation but what is being missed is that there is this generation of a particular age cohort that no matter what one does, they do not send e-mails, etc. That is the reality.

I think all of us know that there are many Irish people who live independently and, maybe, in isolated conditions and the one connection they have with the home base is the RTE station, which happens to be on long wave transmitter. We are debating something that is pretty much for a generation behind us and which treats this station as very precious. It will eventually fade out but like others I welcome the fact that it will continue into next year.

I am quite sure there is sufficient talent within the financial sector of RTE to find some ways to make the necessary saving. I could suggest some but I do not want to be on the "Six One News". I will leave that to my esteemed colleague who set the house on fire the last time RTE was here. I am sure it can find other ways to do this.

It goes back to the generational aspect and the preciousness of the connection between this country and those who had to leave it. To repeat, it will fade itself out, so perhaps RTE should reconsider this. A small number of years will solve this automatically.