Jim Higgins (Fine Gael)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for choosing this matter for the Adjournment.

The decision by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland on 29 April last to withdraw the broadcasting licence of North West Radio came as a bombshell to the station management, the shareholders and to its excellent staff. Above all, it came as a thunderbolt to the hundred of thousands of loyal listeners in counties Sligo, Donegal and Leitrim who, daily, have tuned into station for the last 13 years. The decision quite frankly stinks.

The injustices of it is put clearly into perspective when one considers that on the very day the BCI announced that it was not renewing the North West Radio licence, the station achieved a 68% listenership rating from the JNLR. This figure was no temporary blip or aberration. For the past 13 years, NWR has had consistently high listenership ratings. It has been invariably rated by the public as the most second most successful station in the entire country.

The way the decision was made is open to major question. There are ten members on the BCI, but only six were present for the deliberations on the vote. A 60% attendance for such a crucial decision is insufficient and indefensible. Three members voted for NWR and three for the rival consortium Ocean FM. It took the casting vote – in other words, a second vote – by the chairman, Mr. Conor Maguire, to carry the day for Ocean FM.