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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 18 Jun 1991

Vol. 409 No. 9

Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Multi-Channel Television System.

Austin Deasy

Question:

15 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications if he will give details of the areas of the country which are now in receipt of multi-channel television through the MMDS system.

The MMDS service is available in Counties Galway, Kildare, Louth and Wexford and in a limited way in County Limerick. Test transmissions are operating in Kerry and Roscommon.

A Bord Pleanála have over-ruled objections to planning permissions granted by local authorities in a number of areas recently and I am informed that significant progress in the implementation of the national network will be made in the coming months.

With reference to the second part of his reply, can the Minister tell me if An Bord Pleanála will take into account their decision to overrule objections to the MMDS system in a particular area in deciding on all the other objections or will all other areas have to wait for a certain length of time, a year or two years, before a decision is made on their appeal?

I understand that they will be taken case by case. There is no fast track system in the planning process with regard to transmitters. They go through the normal planning process but I would be surprised if An Bord Pleanála did not take into account their experience and lessons learned in the first case. I would encourage them to do so.

I thank the Minister for his reply because it is scandalous that the illegal operators have raised objections with the purpose of stopping those people in the community who will not contribute to an illegal system and of hindering them from receiving a legally licensed system such as MMDS. Is it not a disgrace that they are allowed do this while their own operations continue and decent people are being deprived of a service?

As I have said, many of them are being held up at present because of planning objections but I would encourage An Bord Pleanála, in so far as I am entitled to do so, to expedite these matters, to treat them as matters of urgency.

Is the Minister satisfied that the MMDS system does not pose a health risk? This matter was discussed during the course of the debate on the Bill but we did not receive a satisfactory answer at that time. Can the Minister tell us, 12 months later, if he has received any report which would suggest that this system might present a potential health risk?

That was one of the matters raised by a number of the anti-MMDS groups when I met them recently — I have yet to meet some more. They still appear to be concerned about it. The official position is that my Department and the experts are satisfied that no health risk is presented by this system.

Leaving aside the question of whether a health hazard is presented, would the Minister agree — this is the allegation — that some operators have waged a scurrilous campaign and have gone out of their way to arouse public fears?

Heated language has been and is being used in the debate. I am proceeding to complete my discussions and will bring forward proposals once I have spoken with the operators, both the legal operators and those opposed to the legal systems.

May I make a brief point to show the relevance of my previous intervention? Is the Minister aware of the fact that the words used by me are included——

I must dissuade Deputy Currie from quoting——

I am not going to quote, Sir, but the words used by me are included in a document signed and published by Fianna Fáil, Upper Mount Street.

This is not in order.

Is the Minister not convinced that the deflector system is a perfectly good one? Rural communities have used their ingenuity, harnessed a signal and are rebroadcasting it, in the process bringing six channels to areas of rural Ireland which will never be able to avail of an MMDS system. Surely his Department have the capacity and expertise to legalise and licence those systems.

It is not as simple as that. Substantial technical and legal problems have to be overcome. For example, the Department have already signed legal contracts throughout the country to permit MMDS operators to go ahead. This debate on the MMDS system requires that I put on the record that Deputy Jim Mitchell announced publicly in 1986 that the MMDS system was the preferred option and he was proceeding on that basis.

Would the Minister accept that the sensible course of action five years on would be to allow rural areas to continue with the deflector system? Given that in a few years time, a service will be provided via satellite would the Minister accept that the proper thing to do would be to scrap the MMDS system and let rural areas, as my colleague, Deputy Higgins, pointed out, enjoy the service they have been receiving for the past number of years in the same way that areas in the eastern part of the country are enjoying a service?

There is no question of anyone being switched off. The sets of consumers under the old system will not go black until a new system is ready to go. There is no question of permitting a gap to be created. Therefore the consumer need not be over-concerned about losing a service. It is important that I reassure them that is my intention to ensure that no gap is created between one system and another but I have to remind the Deputy that legal contracts have been signed to provide an MMDS system throughout the country. Both the Deputy's party and mine gave a commitment at different times to provide such a system.

Is it not the case——

I want to get on to another question.

——that this service will cost ten times the present voluntary payment of £25 a year for the deflector system? They will not be able to afford to pay that kind of money in respect of a service which is available free of charge here in Dublin.

A final question from Deputy Deasy.

I note that my question is being used to contradict the essence of what I am requesting. When does the Minister anticipate that the MMDS system will be provided in all areas? When will the national system be completed?

I would like to be able to put a date on it but I am bound by the planning process. I am anxious to resolve the matter as a matter of urgency. I will be giving it a lot of attention during the summer months with a view to giving the Deputy a date in the autumn perhaps.

It will be after 27 June.

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