Vol. 463 No. 2
8 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the progress, if any, made to set up a new TV channel to accommodate Téilefís na Gaeilge; if so, the estimated cost; the increase, if any, in the licence fee that this will cause; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3219/96]
10 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the funding proposals, if any he has for Téilifís na Gaeilge. [3226/96]
Tógfaidh mé Ceisteanna Uimh. 8 agus 10 le chéile.
Dírím aird na dTeachtaí ar na freagraí a thug mé faoin ábhar seo cheana féin go háirithe na freagraí a thug mé ar Cheisteanna Uimh. 21, 23, 24 agus 36 den 28 Samhain 1995 (colúin 1598 go dtí 1600 den Tuairisc Oifigiúil don lá sin).
Tá fhios ag na Teachtaí, ní foláir, go bhfuil socraithe, i gcomhréir le cinneadh an Rialtais den 20 Nollaig 1995, go ndéanfar na costais chaipitil móide na costais reatha a bhainfidh le Téilifís na Gaeilge a mhaoiniú ón Státchiste agus ón airgead atá carnaithe as an bhfarasbarr ar an teorainn ioncaim a leagadh síos faoin Acht Craolacháin, 1990, agus atá coimeádta ag RTÉ. Is é an costas caipitil measta don stáisiún nua ná £16.1 milliún. D'aontaigh an Rialtas freisin go gcuirfí soláthar de £10 milliún in aghaidh na bliana ar fáil ar bhonn leanúnach i leith na gcostas reatha. Chomh maith leis sin, cuirfidh RTÉ uair an chloig amháin de chláir ar fáil saor in aisce don stáisiún nua. Meastar go mbeidh sé sin dóthaineach lena chumasú don stáisiún dhá uair an chloig de chláir a thairiscint in aghaidh an lae í dtosach báire, gan dul i muinín ardaithe sa cheadúnas teilifíse. Is gnó do Chomhairle Théilifís na Gaeilge, i gcomhairle le hÚdarás RTÉ, modhanna a mholadh chun go bhféadfaí maoiniú, nach ón Státchiste é, a ghiniúint do chláir breise. Níl moltaí dá leithéid faighte agam go dáta.
Tá dul chun cinn suntasach déanta go dtí seo i ndáil le hinsealbhú an bhonneagair theicniúil agus le coimisiúniú clár. Bhí sé de phléisiúr agam le déanaí an céad fód a chasadh ar an láthair do Cheannáras Theilifís na Gaeilge i mBaile na hAbhann, Contae na Gaillimhe. Táthar ag siúl leis go mbeidh an stáisiún ar an aer ar 31 Deireadh Fómhair na bliana seo.
The Minister said, in effect, that Teilifís na Gaeilge will not be self-financing. The Minister mentioned a figure of £16.1 million. Will the taxpayer have to pick up the tab for that? If the taxpayer does not subsidise the station directly will the licence fee be increased or will funding be acquired from advertising revenue?
The capital costs of £16.1 million associated with Teilifís na Gaeilge will bring a transmission system into existence which will initially broadcast for two hours in Irish but will be available to carry out other broadcasting functions. As regards running costs of £10 million, when I repealed the Broadcasting Authority (Amendment) Act in 1993, RTÉ had accumulated funds above the restrictions imposed on it in 1990 of the order of £17 million. Some £6 million was left to assist in establishing Teilifís na Gaeilge and that was to be supplemented by Exchequer funding. RTÉ will make a case for an increase in licence fees on its merits.
The Government decision to establish Teilifís na Gaeilge received all party support. It is important to establish such a service for cultural reasons and it would be curious if at the end of this century we had a choice of 200 television services without one being in the Irish language. It is extraordinary that those who are opposed to this service express little concern about the other 199 services. Funding, other than Exchequer funding, is a matter for Comhairle Teilifís na Gaeilge and the RTÉ Authority who have discussed these matters.
I am puzzled by the funding arithmetic. It will take £40 million to fund three hours of broadcasting and half that cost will be borne by RTÉ. How will the cost of the remainder be carried in the long-term? There will be a skeleton service at the beginning but when that is increased will the cost to RTÉ increase accordingly?
I put the proposals for Teilifís na Gaeilge to Government and I know the decisions that were taken. It was always understood that one hour would be provided by RTÉ as the national broadcaster. If RTÉ did not do so could it in truth claim to be the national broadcaster in the widest sense of that term?
The station will be funded by the Exchequer. It was stated recently on a programme that, looked at one way S4C had £59 million and, looked at another way it had £70 million but until you have £59 million or £70 million to spend you should not try to spend it.
There are those who suggest that if RTÉ had a different attitude towards the Irish language we would be in a stronger position. Many of us regard the Irish language as part of our national identity and we are providing for that.
Fianna Fáil supports the concept of Teilifís na Gaeilge, the capital and day to day running costs of which the Minister has given. In January 1995 he made a statement on the running costs of Teilifís na Gaeilge and RTÉ's responsibilities. However, he seemed to do a U-turn on that in 1996 and gave RTE additional responsibility for the running costs of Teilifís na Gaeilge. Will he consider setting up a structure for such funding rather than leaving it vaguely as Exchequer funding?
I will deal with the structures for Teilifís na Gaeilge when I amend the broadcasting legislation. To ensure that Teilifís na Gaeilge would be established I took decisions even though the legislation was quite old. There are no difficulties with RTE providing one hour's service. Fruitful negotiations have been held between Comhairle Teilifís na Gaeilge and Udarás Radio Teilifís Éireann which I appreciate. I am grateful to the engineering and technical staff of RTE for running with the timescale. As a result we will be able to meet the broadcasting date. It will be an exciting experiment. RTE has not received a television licence fee increase for a long time. However, that is a separate matter. I am happy that the new station will be successful and the initial funding is adequate.
Am I correct in saying that the channel will be utilised for 12 hours each day? I do not know why it appears as Teilifís na Gaeilge in the Estimates since it will be used for many different purposes. Does the Minister agree that the capital costs associated with two or three hours' broadcasting in Irish will be in the region of £6 million rather than £16 million? Is the Minister surprised that this service which will provide employment and develop that unique part of our heritage is questioned when there is not a murmur about the proposal to spend £17 million on providing three or four railway stations in Dublin?
The Deputy's first point is an interesting exercise in mathematics. He made the same point as I made, that you will be able to allocate the capital costs properly in the future when you look at the usage. We are providing £16.1 million capital for a transmission system, of which as the Deputy mentioned — I agree with him — only a proportion of transmission time will be for Teilifís na Gaeilge.
The Deputy will appreciate that I cannot answer him directly because the proposed usages have been submitted to Comhairle Teilifís na Gaeilge and others for further consideration. When they have been assessed one could begin to look at it like that.
The Deputy is quite correct in his second point on employment which is regularly misrepresented. It will create about 250 jobs or certainly 230 jobs, 30 high quality jobs directly and 200 jobs in the independent production sector. In the first round of commissioning more than 20 companies participated and more than 40 companies North and South participated in the second round of commissioning. Teilifís na Gaeilge is creating excitement in the Gaeltacht in terms of jobs in new technology for highly educated people. The person operating the camera when I was interviewed recently was a young woman as was the person handling sound for a programme to be transmitted abroad. They will be making programmes apart from their work with Teilifís na Gaeilge. When history comes to be written it will be the subject of a great thesis as to who precisely was so bitterly antagonistic towards this project which is crucial in my view. It is a statement to the end of the century about diversity of culture and it is about democracy.
When will the Minister be in a position to tell us about the revenue which the station will be expected to generate?
Whenever it is appropriate. There are things which are valuable and there are values which are not easily assessed by revenue income which is not the sole or the most appropriate criterion but when figures are available it is my intention to be totally open about them. To say at this stage that you can afford and use revenue figures to justify the total swamping of the viewing and listening public in Ireland on criteria simply to do with what it costs to turn something on or off would be a draft, hopeless and anti-democratic policy for broadcasting at the end of this century.
