Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I support Senator Mullen's amendment, given his speech on the broad definition of culture. Considering the direction in which television is moving, now is the golden opportunity to reflect on the excellent programming of RTE. We have a rich and proud heritage of excellent programming. The old programmes of "Hall's Pictorial Weekly", "The Riordans" and "Glenroe" and the early Radio Éireann programmes on music have been locked away, never to be seen again. We should consider establishing a heritage channel, particularly with the success of UK TV Gold and TG4 with the all-Ireland championship gold series.

The channel could be used to rekindle the idea of what Ireland used to be like. We have lost the sense of what it means to be Irish in the direction taken by television. The proposed heritage channel, like TG4, would be of absolute importance in regaining that sense. Senator O'Reilly referred to "Reeling in the Years". All who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s would like to reminisce on that era and see how we have changed.

We are a nation rich in culture, music, language and religion. I agree with Senator Mullen on some of the programmes we import from foreign television stations. If we had the choice, we would not watch them.

A heritage channel would also promote Ireland. Some of the best advertisements on television now are those promoting tourism in different regions. We should be parochial on this matter. I support the regionalisation of Irish television broadcasting to highlight what is happening in the regions. One of the biggest mistakes the Government made was the abolition of RTE Radio Cork in the late 1990s. It was a calamity for the city of Cork.

Lyric FM, Beat FM and Red FM have specific target audiences and have created niche markets which should be the same model for the proposed heritage channel.