Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

I am not sure about that.

I have been advised by a range of interest groups and technical experts that RTE is operating the long wave transmitter at just above half its power capacity. Reducing power clearly reduces service, so the move has had a detrimental effect on broadcasts to emigrants and Northern Ireland.

The issue is particularly serious for our emigrant communities. One of my greatest privileges in public life, both as chair of my local authority and as a Senator, has been my visits to the Cavan associations of Luton and London, where I met a range of people and saw that our vibrant emigrant community has retained close cultural ties with this country. These emigrants dearly love Ireland and its people and they revel in its success. They have every right to receive clear broadcasts of RTE programmes. That should not be negotiable. Anybody who has met emigrant communities in England could not but be inspired by their kinship with and love of this country and their desire to maintain links. We should not be equivocal about that.

Serious problems could arise in an emergency. Who, for example, can be brave enough to say a nuclear accident will never take place? A nuclear accident would require people to take shelter in buildings with poor receptions, so maximum power would be needed to broadcast instructions. These problems would be exacerbated where shelters are located in mountainous areas. RTE's long wave transmitter is not maintained with this in mind.

Electromagnetic pollution levels have increased and they are causing a buzzing sound on radios in the south east, London and in near Europe. A long wave transmitter needs four times the power of its medium wave counterpart to protect a service from this interference. However, RTE has made the questionable decision to reduce power on RTE Radio 1 long wave 252 KHz by approximately half. Since the discontinuation of medium wave and the reduction of power, RTE broadcasts to the south east, London and near Europe suffer interference at night from a signal 30 to 40 times more powerful than RTE's. At night, medium wave travels further and overleaps long wave in the same way that Radio Luxembourg used to reach Ireland. That brings back memories of my childhood, when I listened to that station in my bedroom with my radio under the bed clothes.

Closing medium wave transmitters and reducing long wave power by half results in a poor service for Northern Ireland and the UK. That is a serious matter in the context of the Good Friday agreement and our kinship with and moral responsibility for our emigrant communities. It is also serious in the context of the quality of life of the people in the south east who are affected. I empathise with Senator Walsh in that regard.

This is a serious issue. We have been approached by interest groups and by highly skilled technical personnel. As Senators O'Toole and Norris stated, we can forward to the Minister of State or to his officials, privately, the technical material we have received. It would be ludicrous to read that material into the record. Suffice it to say that this is critical in respect of the quality and area of coverage of broadcast signals and the rights of emigrants and citizens in this country. The Minister of State must be reasonable and accept the amendment. I have no doubt he will do so. Irish emigrants will be watching carefully to see how we deal with this issue.