Vol. 478 No. 3
22 Mr. B. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications the reason he has not granted a licence to the South Coast Community Television Services; the date on which this will be done; the reasons for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter.[10923/97]
I have communicated to South Coast Community Television my decision not to issue them a licence. The Deputy will appreciate that I cannot go into the reasons for the refusal of any particular licence application. These are matters which are confidential to my Department and the applicant concerned.
However, he will be aware, from my announcement in this House on April 15 last, of my plans to introduce a new scheme for the use of the remaining capacity in the UHF hand for re-transmission services such as those of South Coast. I have invited South Coast to submit an application under that scheme. I have decided as a matter of policy, that those who apply for a licence under the new scheme will have to fulfil certain criteria.
In reaching a decision on the South Coast application I had to have regard to all the relevant factors involved. Among these are the technical considerations. The Deputy will know that my Department engaged consultants to examine, among other things, the technical aspects of this application. I received that report only two months ago and considering the complex issues raised by it I think that the decision in this case was taken in very timely manner.
