Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 2 Apr 1996

Vol. 463 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - RTE Transmitter.

Mr. B. O'Keeffe

Thank you for the opportunity to raise a very serious issue for the people living in the south coast area. I understand that a transmitter was put in place by RTE in Cahir, which was made fully operational last Wednesday. It is interfering with the rebeaming process carried out by the South Coast Community Television group. The RTE transmitter is blocking out the main source of signal coming into the Carrigaline area, an area which stretches from Mitchelstown to Fermoy down to Carrigaline, and from there to Kinsale, Bandon, Clonakilty and Bantry. This is a significant area, involving a large number of people. There is a suggestion that it may also be affecting the Dungarvan group. What has happend in effect is that BBC 2 has been blacked out completely and I am also given to understand there is interference with the reception on the HTV and BBC 1 signals.

The Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Deputy Lowry, and his Department were made aware almost one month ago that the making of this transmitter fully operational would have these consequences and yet he or the Department failed to take any steps to avoid the disruption in service. The people of Fermoy, Carrigaline, Bantry and Clonakilty, County Cork, are of the opinion that there has not been a change in the thinking of the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications. They accuse the Minister of engaging in a charade and trying to delude those communities.

The question being asked is how is it that RTE never interfered prior to this with the operation of South Coast? A more than adequate RTE signal is already available in this region. Is this action designed to make the case which was the subject of recent High Court proceedings, that South Coast Community Television is interfering with the spectrum within which RTE operates? How is it this hindrance occurred within one month of Minister Lowry giving an undertaking that South Coast could continue to operate unhindered by his Department? How is it this operation was not delayed until such time as the independent assessment group had considered and advised this concern on the submission of its licence application in line with the commitment given by Minister Lowry in the Dáil? Is there such a divergence of dictate between Minister Lowry and the Secretary of his Department, given that the Secretary claimed at a recent meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts that the onus is on South Coast to devise a mechanism outside the present spectrum whereas Mr. Justice Keane in the High Court adjudged that the onus was on the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications to devise such a mechanism for the legal operation of South Coast on the same lines and mechanisms as they had put in place for the MMDS system?

I refer the Minister to a meeting, attended by a large group of people that took place at Carrigaline, County Cork, before the Cork South-Central by-election. At that meeting the Taoiseach made a clear statement that he saw no difficulty in granting South Coast Community Television a temporary licence. He said it could be done immediately and the licence could cover two or three years. Two years on the Taoiseach and the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications have failed to deliver on that promise. The Taoiseach also stated that night that there was no need for a High Court action, that everything would be resolved when Fine Gael went back into Government under his leadership. The High Court action was at great cost to South Coast Community Television. The company is in debt to the tune of £500,000 as a result of the action and the Taoiseach is not living up to his promise.

Is it any wonder, therefore, that there is concern among the people at the shabby treatment meted out to them? Is it any surprise that they have lost all trust and faith both in the Taoiseach and, indeed, in the Minister who have betrayed them? The blocking out of their signal is the last straw and the ultimate in bad faith. It is contrary to Mr. Justice Keane's verdict in the High Court action. On behalf of the people in the communities which stretch from Mitchelstown to Bantry, County Cork, I ask the Minister to rectify the problem immediately and live up to at least one of the promises given to this group so that all faith will not be lost in the political system and the promises made prior to elections.

Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications (Mrs. Doyle)

Before addressing the Deputy's question, which I find to be somewhat lacking in specifics, I want to put the general issue into context. The Deputy will know that the radio frequency spectrum is a scarce national resource. It is the statutory function of the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications to manage the use of that spectrum and to make specific allocations from within it for specific purposes. The recent High Court judgment reaffirmed his role in this regard. The House will agree that there cannot be scope for a Minister to be anything other than objective in allocating frequencies; there can be no scope for partiality when we are dealing with a national asset of immeasurable value. The criteria for managing the spectrum and allocating frequencies must be the national interest and the public good.

Essentially, that means the spectrum must be managed according to a well thought out plan which takes into consideration current and planned uses for it in line with broadcasting and general transmission policies set by the Government of the day. We are talking about the use of frequencies in the ultra high frequency or UHF band here. This is used for television broadcasting and the Deputy's question touches therefore on the broadcasting policy of this and previous Governments. Among other things policies call for the continuing roll-out of the national services of RTE 1 and Network 2. There are still significant numbers of our population who either are not receiving these channels or have very poor reception of them. For this reason RTE still require new frequency allocations to improve their nation-wide coverage.

The House will also be aware of the Government's plans for Teilifís na Gaeilge which is due to begin broadcasting later this year. Transmission testing for new services must be carried out well in advance and this has already started in the case of Teilifís na Gaeilge. Finally, fresh proposals to launch an independent television channel in the near future have been lodged with the Independent Radio and Television Commission. All these services are to operate on the UHF band and provision must be made for their reception in all parts of the country. This involves precision planning of the use of the UHF band. This is an iterative process which has been under way in my Department for a long time. No matter what way you look at this, the space available in this band is severely limited and it is sufficient for no more than four services of a national character.

This scarcity of frequencies is the crux of any debate involving the operation of deflector systems because they want to operate in the same band. The High Court ordered the Minister to reconsider an application from South Coast for a licence to operate such a system. This he has gladly undertaken to do. Indeed, the process to appoint outside consultants to aid him in assessing such an application is already under way. The Minister has taken the unusual step of going outside the expert advice available to him within the Department so that the process can be judged to be utterly fair and impartial.

In addition, the Minister gave an undertaking to the court that pending this assessment, there would be no attempt to close down the South Coast operation. Given that the Government's broadcasting policies to which I referred earlier must be pursued, discussions have already been initiated with the South Coast group with a view to establishing whether any temporary accommodation could be reached which would minimise difficulties for both sides in the run up to a decision on their proposals. To this end, officials have had several meetings with representatives of South Coast and I am informed significant progress in this respect was made of a meeting held as recently as 19 March last.

In the course of these discussions alternative frequencies to the ones already in use by South Coast have been identified by them as suitable for the continuation of their services pending the assessment of their application and which they maintain do not interfere with the roll-out of the national services. As that roll-out is happening on a continuing basis, these frequencies may ultimately be needed of course for the national services.

The Minister has always said that if flexibility can be found within the constraints imposed on him by the necessity to provide for the four national services, we will apply it pending a final assessment of South Coast's application. In fact, by taking this course of action we are going beyond what would be necessitated by the commitment. The objective of the discussions with Southcoast is to try to find this flexibility.

The Deputy has raised the question of interference to South Coast's main source signal, which I gather they receive somewhere in the Comeragh Mountains. The Deputy alleges that this is being caused by an RTE transmitter but does not identify the source of this interference.

Mr. B. O'Keeffe

He does.

Mrs. Doyle

This is not an ordinary case of interference complained of by a licensed service. That usually results from some unauthorised use of the same radio frequencies by someone else in the locality. Here it is alleged that the planned use of frequencies is interfering with an unauthorised user.

Mr. B. O'Keeffe

The commitment was given to an unauthorised user.

Mrs. Doyle

Accordingly, I am not in the position usually occupied by Ministers where they are armed with all the facts necessary to defend the authorised user.

The facts that are relevant to this issue, as far as I am aware, are as follows: RTE recently changed frequencies at the Cahir site to relay reception of Teilifís na Gaeilge signals from its main transmitter site on Mount Leinster. The effect was to move RTE 1 and Network 2 reception onto new channels to make room for Teilifís na Gaeilge. These changes were flagged to South Coast last December. In the continuing roll out of the new national services, changes of this kind are inevitable. We try to see to it that they are flagged up well in advance but that may not always be practicable.

Mr. B. O'Keeffe

The Department was told about it.

Mrs. Doyle

My information is that neither RTE, Department officials nor South Coast foresaw serious difficulties with the Cahir transmissions, if indeed they are responsible at all here. It was felt that if interference to South Coast arose it could be overcome by their moving their equipment downhill from its current site. The Deputy will appreciate that the Minister did not licence the South Coast transmitter site. He has no details of its precise location or what equipment is erected on it. These details are critical in any assessment of interference problems.

However, I am informed that a cable operator whose head-end reception facility is in the same vicinity is not experiencing any interference problems from RTE. It may be then that the South Coast equipment is at fault.

Mr. B. O'Keeffe

Not a chance.

Mrs. Doyle

At the recent meeting, officials undertook to look at situations where the start up of the RTE tests and transmissions led to insurmountable difficulty for South Coast. It seems to me that the best way forward is to let the experts on both sides get on with the job of trying to identify the flexibility which I spoke of earlier, if such can be found, with the objective of reaching some accommodation in the short-term at least.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.15 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 3 April 1996.