Skip to main content
Normal View

Seanad Éireann debate -
Thursday, 27 Feb 1997

Vol. 150 No. 6

Adjournment Matters. - TV Retransmission System.

I have raised this matter because it deals with one of the most fundamental issues we, as a nation, have to address—the depopulation of our countryside and the magnetic pull of our rural communities to our cities, particularly those on the east coast where there are facilities which are not available to rural communities in historic centres.

In my county of Tipperary, we are proud that our rural communities have the deepest and richest sense of community values. We are proud that these values are based on self-help, community cohesion and a determination to maintain the population in our rural areas. This Adjournment Matter is geared to protect the Killenaule Community Television Company Limited and those who are served by it.

The areas to which the company seeks to have television signals retransmitted are some of the most historic and deep-rooted communities of Tipperary which have made us proud of their contribution at all levels, during the War of Independence and before it. I am speaking of communities such as Killenaule, Fethard, Ballingarry, Drangan, Cloneen, Botharlahan—famed in song and story—Kilcommon and Upperchurch. These areas cover what we call the Slieveardagh and Slieve Felim region of Tipperary. As the name suggests, we are dealing with what we are proud to call the "people of the hills"—people who are the very bastions of Irish value in society.

Killenaule Community Television is a self-help, non-profit making organisation concerned in protecting against the magnetic pull towards the cities because of the attractions available there, which in this instance, are multi-channel television facilities. Young people in Tipperary want access to the same television facilities as those in Dublin and Cork, although they are confident in the knowledge they are sufficiently strong in their own culture and proud of their own place. They are equally determined they should have a right to the transmission of channels such as BBC1, BBC2, UTV and Channel 4 at a reasonable cost and good quality reception.

Killenaule Community Television is community-based. It wants the right to retransmit signals to areas in the heartland of Tipperary. They have support in Tipperary from one range of hills to another. They submitted a formal application to the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Deputy Dukes, on 16 January, seeking his approval to establish a retransmission system in the UHF TV broadcast band to the areas of Killenaule, Fethard, Ballingarry, Drangan, Cloneen, Boherlahan, Kilcommon and Upperchurch.

Such communities are our richest resource. The quality and loyalty of this community organisation deserves a positive response from the Minister. There will be no demands from this organisation to provide heavy resources in terms of containing crime or otherwise, although there will always be isolated incidents. These are the best people who live in the heartland of Ireland and are entitled to ensure their young people say in that rich and valuable environment. What is available in our cities should also be made available to them.

I thank Senator O'Kennedy for the opportunity to make a Statement on this subject.

I note that one of the terms of the matter before us refers to the "need" for the Ministers for Transport, Energy and Communications, Deputy Dukes, to give approval for the Killenaule Community Television Company's TV retransmission system. The Minister is not too sure how that need arises. He is informed that the licensed MMDS operator for the area is already providing service in the Killenaule area and has substantial numbers of subscribers to its service there already.

The Minister knows very little of the Killenaule Television retransmission system because the formal application to which the Senator referred is no more than a short letter to him, from the company, seeking his approval to establish a TV retransmission system. Other than some details of the intended coverage area contained in the letter, he has no other information on the Killenaule system.

It is suspected that the Senator is being somewhat mischievous in putting forward this matter. He should be aware that the Minister is no more in a position to approve or licence the Killenaule system than he is to approve or licence any other such system retransmitting television signals on the UHF band. As the Senator will be aware, this subject has a long history. Such systems are usually referred to as deflector systems and where they operate they do so illegally because the use they make of the radio frequency spectrum is not approved or licensed.

The Minister would like to take the opportunity to inform the House of the current position regarding the operation of deflector systems. Following the High Court judgment in 1995 on the action brought by South Coast Community TV, he is obliged to reconsider an application from that organisation for a licence to operate its television retransmission system. The court did not dictate the form that consideration should take, much less the outcome of any such reconsideration. However, in order to provide a degree of objectivity far beyond what was necessary for the process, the Minister's predecessor decided to ask outside technical experts to carry out an analysis of the application in the first instance. This was partly because the main difficulty about the use of deflector systems from the outset has always been technical, that is, the inevitable congestion that would be caused in the broadcasting frequency band.

Consultants nominated by the European Broadcasting Union carried out the technical analysis of the South Coast application and recently reported to the Minister on the matter. He is now obliged to give due consideration to the South Coast application in light of all the relevant issues, including those that are the subject of the report. In the event that anyone might believe otherwise, the Minister wishes me to point out that the report does not contain any imperatives, either in respect of the South Coast application or for the operation of deflector systems generally, because the consultants were not asked to make any decisions or recommendations on the main issue. All the decisions to be taken on these matters fall within the Minister's statutory remit.

From reading the report it is clear that a tremendous amount of work has had to be invested in the technical analysis of this application. The Minister is not surprised at this because radio frequency interference analysis is complex and time consuming work. There are many technical variables to be taken into consideration in the radio frequency planning process. Those involved in this area within the Department have consistently maintained that this degree of analysis is necessary to assess the technical feasibility of any deflector system. They have also maintained that the work involved would become increasingly more difficult if the Department was to consider fitting unplanned services into the broadcasting bands beside the four national services which are being progressively rolled out.

The Minister hopes, therefore, that people will not be led by idle speculation into a belief that the report contains clear cut solutions to all our problems. It is a complex document dealing with complex issues and it will take time to digest. The Minister has made available a copy of the report to South Coast Community TV because its application is the subject of the report. When he has studied the report, he will give some thought to wider publication of its contents to interested parties for consultation purposes before he makes a final decision in the South Coast case.

It is important to stress that this report is confined to an examination of certain technical matters which bear on the South Coast application. However, these are not the only aspects to be considered and, just as there are competing interests at stake in this area, there are also competing economic, administrative and legal aspects to be taken into account, including the Department's obligations under international treaties governing the assignment of broadcasting frequencies. It is the Minister's job to take these factors into account and make a balanced judgment in the interests of society as a whole.

Senators will appreciate that, because of the High Court judgement, the Minister's primary responsibility in this area is to consider the South Coast application. This process is underway and he will make a decision on the matter as soon as possible. The only comment the Minister wishes to make about other deflector systems, including the one planned by the Killenaule Community Television Company, is that, in coming to a decision on the South Coast application, he will have regard to the implications of, and for, deflector systems generally.

The Minister of State indicated that all that is known about the Killenaule Community Television Company application is contained in a short letter. I suggest that, rather than implying this application is completely inadequate, the Minister of State and the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications might, as a matter of courtesy, indicate to the people of Killenaule the information that is required in support of their application. That would be more appropriate than making a veiled criticism of a highly motivated community. If there are further details to be supplied, perhaps the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications might request them through his Department.

I believe the veiled criticism is of the Senator and not the community to which he referred.

The Seanad adjourned at 4.20 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 5 March 1997.

Top
Share