Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

I am indebted to Cathal Goan of RTE who sent me a briefing document on this matter. I was unfamiliar with a great deal of the terminology used and it gave me a opportunity to familiarise myself with it.

Fine Gael welcomes the Bill, for what it is, and welcomes the opportunity to discuss broadcasting in Ireland generally. The Minister stated a new framework will be established to allow for the licensing of digital terrestrial television, DTT. The Minister also stated this new framework will amend the existing framework set out in legislation, make it more flexible and allow for consideration of the licensing of digital sound broadcasting services in due course.

The Minister went on to state that building on the experience of the DTT pilot, Ireland will proceed to upgrade the analogue network to a digital terrestrial network. We all support this. Digital means many more television channels, better picture and the provision of high definition and interactive services.

Once DTT is rolled out and viewers swap over to DTT or other digital platforms such as cable, satellite and IPTV, it will be possible to switch off the analogue transmission network. When will all of this happen? Will the Minister give us a guarantee that digital will be rolled out in a set timeframe? What measures will be put in place to ensure no slippage? What infrastructural deficits must be overcome? Where are the bottlenecks?

I am uncertain about subsequent transmission. Will we have another plethora of masts? Will existing masts be piggy-backed, assuming a mast requirement exists? As the Minister and I well know, the mast issue tends to be contentious.

What public education and information process will be put in place to let the public know about DTT? I understand and appreciate the publicity aspect. If we roll it out for operation in 2012 it would be premature to provide information to the public now. However, the public would like to know we are progressing on the digital concept and moving away from analogue. I am interested to learn what information is available to the public on what is happening.

It is gratifying the Bill covers the important area of reaching out to the emigrant population. The way we treated those who, through economic necessity, were forced to leave their country is not something of which we as a nation can be particularly proud. Fine Gael and the Labour Party are committed to implementing the recommendation of the Task Force on Policy Regarding Emigrants. Despite the report being accepted by the Government in August 2002, many key recommendations have not been implemented in full.

The progress made since 2002 has come about largely as a result of pressure from the Opposition parties and various organisations representing the Irish abroad. The task force recommended the provision of €34 million in official government funding for emigrant services by 2005. However, a year after this deadline, only €12 million was provided for 2006, representing slightly more than one third of the amount promised. Fine Gael and the Labour Party are conscious of the generosity of our emigrants during the lean years of the 1950s and 1960s, when they sent home the equivalent of €3.5 billion to assist those left behind. It is about time we expressed our thanks in a tangible form.

We note greater linkages between Irish-born emigrants and their home country was a key recommendation of the report of the Task Force on Policy Regarding Emigrants. The provision of Irish radio and television services to Irish emigrants plays an important role in maintaining such connections. The Minister referred to a decision by a private broadcaster to no longer provide RTE television. Following that decision, RTE TV broadcasts are no longer available to Irish emigrants based in the UK. RTE has an all-Ireland remit to broadcast within the island of Ireland. We support the legislative expansion of this remit to include the UK. This would give Irish emigrants access to domestic programmes.

On a related note, I welcome the decision by RTE to use the long wave 252 frequency to relay RTE Radio 1 to those outside the State. This service replaces the "Atlantic 252" pop music service, launched in the late 1980s to considerable opposition from many who felt the service did nothing to nurture RTE's reputation as a public service broadcaster, providing as it did nothing but pop music and inane chatter all day long.

I take this opportunity to address an important issue for television audiences, namely, the growing trend by digital and satellite broadcasters to impose special pay-per-view charges for specific events, mainly sporting events. This should be guarded against and I would welcome an assurance from the Minister that RTE and other Irish-based broadcasters will not move into this dangerous territory during and after the switch over to digital.

In particular,the Department's woeful failure to secure free-to-air rights for the Ryder Cup comes to mind. Information released last year to my colleague, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, showed that €15.7 million of taxpayers' money was spent on developing the Ryder Cup project. One would think with this level of investment the Government should have ensured the event was broadcast on free-to-air television. Instead it ensured it was only available on subscription TV, which reduces access to only one in five households in the country.

Legislation was already in place to ensure key sporting events such as the Ryder Cup were made available on free-to-air television. It would have been a simple matter to add the 2006 Ryder Cup to this list. Above all, it would have been in the national interest. It was grossly unfair to the Irish taxpayer who only saw deferred highlights of the event, diluting the excitement and attraction for sports fans who could not afford to pay for the privilege of seeing the event live.

While many people would welcome the developments, it is significant that although every household can get television in one form or another and receive the Irish channels free if they wish, more than 250,000 families have free access only to the Irish channels. This is because they are outside the areas in which free multichannel reception is available, houses cannot be cabled or they cannot or do not want to pay satellite or cable charges. Most of these viewers do not want to pay future subscriptions to receive what they currently enjoy without additional costs. People want reassurance that during the changeover from analogue to digital they will not face extra costs. They already pay for a TV licence. RTE has plans to ensure this will not happen and will probably follow the example of the BBC in this regard, which I welcome.

This legislation is urgently required. Based on current figures, in two years' time 88,000 families in the Leinster area who receive free multichannel television, including the Irish and UK stations, will be cut off instantly when UK services in the west of England and Wales go digital. A further 115,000 Irish households, including many viewers who receive overspill signal from BBC and TV transmitters in Northern Ireland, will lose free multichannel reception in a stage process as other UK areas are switched off.

In conclusion, I wish the Minister well in this challenge. What is happening is futuristic. I wish the BCI and RTE the best of luck in proceeding in this venture.