Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

Senator O'Meara referred to large parts of Leinster, but I would like to point out that we are also talking about all of the Border counties. As a child, I often used to read with great amusement about how deprived we were in County Leitrim, even though we received BBC Northern Ireland and UTV long before they came to Dublin. We were well aware of what was going on and it was wonderful to understand the culture and the British way of life. This may have informed my views of the relationship between the two islands as a result. We were able to receive the UK stations from a young age.

However, the digital footprint will ensure that this will be heavily emasculated, as Senator O'Meara correctly pointed out. We are moving into a serious television environment and I am glad that this Bill is being brought before the House as it is about free-to-air digital television. It is not about being charged for watching every five minutes of television, which is the environment we have sadly moved into over the past five years. Anybody who follows this issue at a cursory level will notice Sky TV trumpeting the fact that its subscription base in this country has been increased. The company has made millions of euro, often because people cannot get the stations on a terrestrial basis, as Senator Coonan stated. They have no choice but to use satellite television. It is even becoming more difficult in my part of the country.

I suggested something on Committee Stage that I will also raise at the next plenary session of the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body. It is somewhat fortuitous that a distinguished Member of the British House of Commons is in this House tonight, namely, my honourable friend Andrew MacKinlay, MP. He has a tremendous interest in all things Irish and we have discussed this before. I hope to persuade him to table a question on this issue in the House of Commons. Following the Good Friday Agreement, the British and Irish Governments agreed that a transmitter should be located in Belfast to transmit TG4 primarily to the Nationalists in Belfast and its environs. This was done under a cultural dimension, so there was no technical difficulty with it. However, there are large parts of Northern Ireland where one cannot receive RTE television.

I will propose that an amendment be made to the BBC charter to allow the corporation to transmit BBC Northern Ireland across the island of Ireland, and that a reciprocal arrangement be made to allow RTE to be transmitted in all parts of the island. I do not suggest such measures would address the specific issues which have been raised by Senator O'Meara. It is possible, given the close relationship between the two islands, that progress could be made in this way. The United Kingdom agreed in the cultural dimension of the Good Friday Agreement to allow TG4 to operate in Northern Ireland, which is within its territory. An argument could be made, therefore, for RTE's services to be transmitted in Northern Ireland, with a reciprocal arrangement that would allow the BBC's services to be transmitted here. The Minister of State might be able to give us some hope that RTE will be in a position to negotiate on the rights issue after the multiplex has been set up.

Senator O'Meara knows this is a question of rights, rather than technology. Perhaps RTE will be given the resources to negotiate on the rights issue in order that the British stations can be included on the multiplex which will be transmitted free to air. I have every sympathy with, and understanding for, the Senator's position on this matter. I cannot say I would readily agree to accept this amendment if I were the Minister of State. I have a great deal of sympathy for the argument that has been made.