andMr. Harte asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the action he proposes to take, as a matter of urgency, to provide an adequate RTE 1 and 2 signal to all television licence-holders in the Inishowen Peninsula, County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on why an adequate signal has not been provided to date.
Written Answers . - County Donegal Television Reception .
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: RTE say that they plan to bring a new high-power transmitter at Holywell Hill into service this month and that this will provide a two-channel colour service for a significant area of Inishowen. In addition they expect that the Fanad transposer will be equipped to transmit RTE1 in colour by the end of the year and RTE2 in colour next Spring, thus bringing the full 625-line services to western parts of the peninsula. Plans are also in train to equip the Moville transposer to carry the full 625-line services to the remaining areas of Inishowen as soon as possible, but RTE cannot say at this stage when these transmissions will commence.
Inishowen is not, of course, the only part of the country where an adequate signal has not yet been provided by RTE. Extending the television services to the remoter parts of the country is a complex task which cannot be planned or carried out quickly. A particular difficulty so far as Inishowen is concerned was the non-availability of suitable 625-line VHF channels for that area.