Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

On Second Stage I supported the idea of the heritage channel. It would be a good idea for our culture, music, national games and history. As has been stated already, "Reeling in the Years" appeals to all generations.

Senator Mullen's point is important as well. There are people who in the main are probably retired who will look at television during the daytime when much of the canned stuff shown is rubbish. It is merely filler, simply because the viewing population is down. People are entitled to better than that.

I am also reminded that since we had the debate in the House, a few people, including a person who interviewed me on radio, made the point that they would really like to see a heritage channel. The interviewer thought it would be a brilliant idea. I do not think he was even following our debate as his was something of an off-the-cuff comment. It would be fertile ground for the independent television producers to get to grips with and perhaps RTE would be in a position to commission good programmes in that regard.

It is a good development in this area that we are moving towards having channels such as a Houses of the Oireachtas channel. I would urge the Minister to see how this can be done, even on a phased basis. The transmission time could be limited to an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, but at least there would be an initial step made in that direction so that one of the initiatives that would have been taken through this good Bill would be the potential for a heritage channel as we move forward.