Vol. 474 No. 2
109 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications whether negotiations have been successful in relation to agreeing a frequency in order that areas in Inishowen, County Donegal, will receive Teilifís na Gaeilge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2692/97]
The negotiations referred to by the Deputy are taking place between officials of my Department and those of the UK Radio-communications Agency. The need for these negotiations arise in the context of international agreements which make it obligatory for countries which lie within a certain geographic range of each other to agree, beforehand, the precise use of proposed frequencies for broadcasting. This process is known as the co-ordination of frequency usage. The objective is to minimise the scope for interference to a transmitting station which might otherwise be caused by transmissions in another jurisdiction.
This particular set of negotiations involves the co-ordination of frequencies in the Ultra High Frequency — UHF — band for the transmission of the national television programme services, including Teilifís na Gaeilge, from the RTE station near Moville, County Donegal as well as the co-ordination of frequencies for Channel 5, also on UHF, put forward by the UK side. Co-ordination of these frequencies has proved difficult and time-consuming because of the overlapping coverage of Irish and UK networks in areas such as Inishowen. In recent days officials of my Department have put various proposals to the UK side to overcome the problems which have been identified. The UK side is now examining these proposals and hopefully the matter will be resolved in the near future. This case is a good example of the problems involved in trying to accommodate the UK and Irish TV channels in the UHF band.
