Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)

I will not oppose the amendments. There is need to have funding available for TG4, the work it does and what it represents, which is, even though I am not a fluent Irish speaker, something that is very Irish and national.

Regarding the broadcasting sector, I concur with a great deal of what Deputy Ó Cuív said, particularly regarding what is broadcast to us on a daily basis. It appears the media sector at that level is ideologically driven in that in terms of the wider capacity what comes across from RTE, and I am not questioning anything about the people involved in it, is much different from the life experience of the majority of people on the ground. TG4 is very reflective of the constituency it represents, the Gaelic cultural side of our county and of life from those on the ground.

It is necessary to examine the whole set-up in the sector and I hope the Minister will do that. When the vast majority of decent, hard-working people look at television programmes, they find that their content is far removed from the lives they live and their experience of life on a daily basis. A forum must be created within the sector to allow ordinary people to have voice in this respect. Economists, media commentators and some politicians appear on current affairs programmes but what really matters is the voice of people on the ground. They live life as it is every day. They experience the highs and lows of life and are struggling in the current economic situation. Many people, low income families, have always struggled. There is a need to have some programmes that represent their views. The nearest a programme comes to doing that is Joe Duffy's "Liveline" radio programme to which people can phone in and articulate their views. That process brings issues to the forefront. There does not appear to be any television programme that provides such an outlet for people.

We have to deal with many amendments, but, in this instance, I will not be opposing these amendments.

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