Seanad debates

Monday, 1 March 2021

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

10:30 am

Photo of Joe O'ReillyJoe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Aontaím go láidir gur chóir Seachtain na Gaeilge a cheiliúradh. Is é an tslí is fearr leis sin a dhéanamh ná iarracht a dhéanamh ár dteanga shaibhir dhúchais a úsáid eadrainn féin agus go poiblí. Chun tús a chur leis sin, ba mhaith liomsa na hionsaithe ar an nGarda a cháineadh go láidir.

I have been raising this issue and I assure the Leader I will keep raising it, and I know she has empathy on it too. There is mounting evidence that addiction to gambling is increasing through the lockdown. It is destroying lives, as I have gone through before. When will we have a gambling regulator? When will the gambling control Bill be before the House? When will we have preliminary statements in the House to set the scene for those developments and inform them?

I turn next to a question raised by an engineer in Monaghan, Enda O’Kane, on behalf of the diaspora in London. RTÉ LW 252 signal strength is not strong enough to service the Irish diaspora in London. A number of years ago, a campaign to retain the RTÉ LW 252 service was established and was successful. Older people do not cope with online services. In 2019, the service was disrupted for a short period to allow improvement works on the mast transmitting on the long-wave frequency. It has now been discovered that interference from Radio Algiers is stopping the Irish community in London and south-east England, where there is a big preponderance of our people, from getting the signal. This could be rectified by the British regulator and authorities in conjunction with RTÉ and our authorities. I know this was raised in the House previously but the technical reason was not raised, as I have been informed by Mr. O'Kane. I ask the Leader to bring this matter to the attention of the British ambassador, the Government and RTÉ as a real issue for our people who had to leave us.

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