Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senators for their contributions. I am glad the debate has demonstrated a degree of unanimity in support of the Bill and in suggesting possible amendments to it. I am willing to be flexible, without delaying its passage too long. Some of the suggestions are worthy of consideration and I hope to look favourably on some of them. As Senators have agreed, the Bill is vital to ensure that Irish citizens can continue to enjoy an access to a quality, free-to-air broadcasting service and this is very important to all of us. It is especially important to have public service broadcasting. It is of concern to Government and to Members of this House that we take care to consider the needs of Irish communities living abroad with regard to public service broadcasting and this is provided for in the Bill.

I will deal with a number of the points raised by Senators during the debate. Some Senators, including Senator Finucane and Senator Ryan, raised the question of timescales for digital terrestrial television, DTT, roll-out. As I stated in my opening contribution, the EU has put forward the date of 2012 for analogue switch off and we intend to meet that date. Last year at a regional radio conference, Ireland agreed that analogue television will not continue to be protected after 2015. It is a case of a drop dead date of 2015 after which no analogue television will be available in Ireland. The European-wide switch off date is 2012. I have indicated on more than one occasion that I intend to try to beat that date by at least a couple of years. However, I want to give the trials and tests being undertaken an opportunity to play out more before the Government decides which way to go and the timescale to be followed. One way or another, we must ensure a viable alternative to free-to-air television by 2012 at the very latest. This means that DTT must be rolled out as quickly as possible.

As I indicated to Members, this trial was commenced in August 2006 and it is due to last until 2008. During the timescale of the trial it is planned to meet a number of objectives, including the enactment of this legislation. It was originally planned to be part of the larger broadcasting Bill but because of the other issue of extending coverage and attempting to reach out to the Irish communities, we decided to bring this forward.

This new legislation will provide for RTE to be directly licensed by ComReg to provide DTT. Interested commercial operators will be given contracts by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, BCI, and there seems to be a fair amount of interest. Such operators will also be contracted to provide DTT, by which time it is hoped the DTT network roll-out will have commenced. This is what is envisaged over that two-year period and we will endeavour to accelerate the process, if possible. When the trial period ends in August 2008, it is hoped the DTT services will be offered at that stage by RTE and by commercial operators nationwide. I expect that during 2009, full consideration can be given to the planning of analogue switch-off in light of the extent of the DTT roll-out already achieved. Those timescales will be revised if progress is achieved at a faster rate.

Senator Ryan, Senator Finucane and others raised the issue of the possible loss of UK spill-over services from many households in the Leinster area once the UK analogue switch-off begins in 2008. I acknowledge there will be a loss of such services. Many Irish households have benefited in the past from free-to-air UK analogue television services. However, it should be remembered that this spill-over was just an accidental, albeit positive, benefit which occurred as a side-effect of analogue transmission and there is no right or entitlement to it. One of the consequences of the regional conference held in 2006 is that international spectrum usage will now be bound by those international agreements and DTT spill-over will be less likely as digital service is more controllable. The UK spill-over cannot be relied upon in the future as a method of providing television services to Irish households. With the advent of the national DTT roll-out, it is likely that UK television services will be offered on one of the DTT platforms. Households will continue to have a choice between satellite, cable or MMDS offerings through which they can receive UK channels.

On the questions raised by Senator Kenneally and others about the physical infrastructure, the possible need for a new infrastructure and the length of time such a roll-out would take, no new infrastructure such as the provision of masts is required. The analogue terrestrial system entails transmission on channels from key mountain tops, the names of which are familiar to us all, and they are generally removed from centres of population. The DTT system will piggy-back on top of this existing system and can use the same masts and transmission sites with the addition of some new equipment. It is expected that the usual key mountain sites, such as Kippure, Claremont Cairn, Truskmore, Mount Leinster and so on, will be used.

Some Members questioned whether a roll-out of DTT can be guaranteed once this legislation is passed. I wish to underline that the proposed legislation obliges RTE to provide a multiplex with public service broadcast channels across the country. It is guaranteed that RTE 1, RTE 2, TG4 and perhaps one or two others which are currently available will be provided on that multiplex. Senator Mansergh will still be able to get his four channels.