Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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Question 87: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the extent to which it is expected to extend RTÉ transmission capacity to neighbouring jurisdictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11432/07]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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Section 16(1) of the Broadcasting Authority Act 1960, as amended, sets the core public service objectives for the RTÉ Authority. It requires the Authority to provide a national television and radio service and permits the Authority the discretion to provide "broadcasting services of a local, community or regional character".

Section 28(1) of the Broadcasting Act 2001 expands the public service broadcasting remit of the RTÉ Authority to the whole of the island of Ireland. Section 3(1)(b) of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2006, as recently passed by Dáil Éireann, proposes to amend Section 16 of the Broadcasting Act 1960, to require the RTÉ Authority to provide television and radio services to Irish communities outside of the island of Ireland. The television service is required to be representative of the programme schedules of the existing public service channels RTÉ One, RTÉ Two and TG4. Whilst ultimately a matter for RTÉ it is likely that the programming provided on the television service will consist primarily of domestic programming commissioned or produced by RTÉ and Teilifís na Gaeilge.

Paragraphs (a) and (b) of Section 16(2) of the Broadcasting Authority Act 1960 empower the RTÉ Authority to establish, maintain and operate transmission infrastructure for the purposes of providing its public service broadcasting services.

Section 3(1)(a) of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2006 also proposes that the RTÉ Authority would be required to establish, maintain and operate the provision of a national multiplex service. Such a service would comprise of the infrastructure and electronic services needed to allow for digital terrestrial broadcasting in Ireland.

In essence, the existing corpus of broadcasting legislation and the proposed Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2006, taken together mandate the RTÉ Authority to provide public service broadcasting services within the island of Ireland and to Irish communities abroad, and empowers the RTÉ Authority to establish broadcasting transmission infrastructure for such a purpose.

As such it is a matter for the RTÉ Authority to decide on the extent and reach of its transmission capacity in delivering on its statutory mandate.