I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £162,000 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending the 31st day of March, 1947, for Salaries and other Expenses in connection with Wireless Broadcasting (No. 45 of 1926), including Public Concerts.
The Estimate for Wireless Broadcasting for the year 1946-47 is £198,100, an increase of £112,437 on the Estimate for the previous year. The main increases are in Sub-heads A, Salaries; B, Cost of Daily Programmes; E, Light and Power, and F, Plant and Equipment (including equipment for a Short Wave Station).
On Sub-head A, there is an increase of £3,862. The higher figure is attributable mainly to higher bonus payments, staff additions and increases in salaries. Although the normal hours of broadcasting have not been increased the continuous efforts to improve the quality of the programmes within the existing hours by more intensive preparation, employment of larger casts, etc., make it necessary to expand the station organisation from year to year and to adjust salaries in certain cases to compensate the officers for the more exacting work they are called upon to perform. This process of expansion must of course be continued as programmes develop in extent and character.
The increase of £12,185 under Sub-head B is due in the main to provision for slightly increased payments to artists, higher cost of telephone trunk lines for outside broadcasts, provision for improvement of the programmes in Irish, including better facilities for getting material from the Gaeltacht and better arrangements for obtaining News supplies.
In respect of Sub-head E, Light and Power, there is an increase of £3,300. It is due chiefly to the station being kept open for sponsored programmes after 11 p.m., to an increase in Electricity Supply Board charges which became effective during the past financial year, and to provision for heat, light and power for part of the current year for the proposed shortwave high power station to which I shall refer under the next sub-head.
Sub-head F—Plant and Equipment. As Deputies will see from the details of the sub-head, the most substantial part of the increase of £92,915 in this sub-head is due to provision for equipment for a high power shortwave station. The Government has decided that it is desirable that this country should have such a station available for broadcasting overseas. In anticipation of Dáil sanction for the expenditure, preliminary arrangements have been made for getting the equipment for the transmitter at Athlone and setting up the organisation to deal with the programmes. Provided no unforeseen hitches occur, the station may be ready to begin operations by the end of April, 1947. The sum included in the sub-head for equipment is £89,000, which, together with smaller sums in other sub-heads, brings the total Vote provision for the shortwave station this year to £92,000. Apart from the shortwave station equipment, the extra provision in sub-head F is for mobile recording apparatus to get outside programme material, and for items of equipment for the existing stations which could not be procured during the war. No provision is made in the Estimate for programme operation costs for the proposed new station and if, as now anticipated, it will be necessary to get programme staff, etc., in the current financial year to prepare in advance for actual operation, I may have to come to the Dáil for a supplementary provision.
The variations in the sub-heads of the Estimate other than those to which I have referred are small in amount and are due to casual causes.
Revenue from wireless licences in the financial year ended 31st March, amounted to approximately, £109,000 (the original estimate being £107,000) and from advertisements etc., to approximately, £15,000, as against an estimate of £3,200, i.e., there was a total revenue of £124,000. This represents an increase on the revenue for the previous year of almost £13,000. The estimated revenue for the current year is £107,500 from licences and £17,760 from advertisements, i.e., a total revenue of £125,260. The information available since the Estimate was prepared indicates, however, that the licence revenue will be higher than shown, as the licences are again on the upgrade and the sum to be obtained from advertisements is likely to be substantially more than estimated. The total expenditure, including expenditure by other Departments on services rendered to broadcasting, is estimated at £244,293. On the figures, as estimated, therefore, there will be a deficit of £119,033. A great part of the deficit is, as Deputies will appreciate, due to the proposed expenditure on the shortwave station.
I shall now refer in a general way to the programmes of the past year. A marked increase has been noticeable in public interest in the broadcasting programmes and the policy of aiming at a high standard has been well justified. This has been particularly noticeable in the sphere of music. It is safe to say that the public symphony concerts have by now become a part of the life of Dublin and, through the radio, of the country. The strengthening of the orchestra has been of great help and has been reflected in a higher level of performance and a wider field of musical works. On December 9th, 1945, was given the fiftieth public symphony concert in the present series. During the season 1944-45, the attendance at these concerts averaged over 80 per cent. of the capacity of the Capitol Theatre, and the attendance at the concerts from October to Christmas, 1945, and January to March, this year, sustained that high level. Generally, the orchestra has made much progress and the members are very much encouraged by the generous support they receive when the orchestra plays in public.
The policy of encouraging musical organisations in Dublin and throughout the country has been adhered to. A number of important concerts were relayed from Waterford, Cork, Cóbh, Dungarvan and Kilkenny, and we have had broadcasts of oratorio from Dublin and Cork. We also had relays of church choirs from many places, including Cork, Limerick, Tuam, Carlow, Arklow and from a number of centres in Dublin. Musical activity, in general, is on the increase and a great deal of the credit for this condition of affairs is, undoubtedly, due to broadcasting.
Irish Language Broadcasts. —The encouragement of the study and use of Irish is being steadily pursued. The series of lessons under the title "Listen and Learn" is being followed closely by a large body of listeners. The lessons began on the 2nd March, 1945, and were broadcast on Tuesdays and Fridays of every week up to the middle of June. The same series was repeated from September, 1945, to January of the present year and the second and more advanced series is now being broadcast regularly twice weekly. Of the popularity of these lessons, we have abundant evidence of various kinds. Letters from listeners in all parts of Ireland, and others from England, Wales, Scotland and even as far afield as Brittany and southern France have poured in for many months, all of them approving the scheme, and, of course, making all sorts of suggestions for its improvement. The booklet containing the text of the lessons reached a sale of nearly 30,000 copies, and a second edition, in which a phonetic reproduction of the Irish text was included, 11,000 copies. The Gramophone Company (His Master's Voice) recorded the Gaelic text, an invaluable aid to listeners who want to return to the sound again and again. The outcome of this scheme, which will, of course, continue and develop for several years, will be of extreme interest to language-workers. In addition to these instructional broadcasts, there continues to be a wide variety of Irish language features, including plays, talks, dramatisations, short stories, book reviews and anniversary features.
Programmes in English. —Programmes in English continue to range over an immensely wide field. There can hardly be any subject of general interest or importance, or of national value, that is not covered in one way or another. Special events, such as the Davis and Young Ireland Centenary and Military Tattoo were made the subject of broadcasts of different kinds, designed to appeal to a wide public.
Particular efforts have been made to arrange talks of interest and assistance to farmers, with notable success in one series, which, after a successful run last year, has been revived. There are many difficulties to be surmounted in this matter, but it is felt that, when plans at present under consideration have been fully worked out, most of them will be overcome and a better service achieved. During the war, one of the major difficulties was that many of those farmers who possessed wireless sets were dependent on batteries and the scarcity of these made listening impossible. That position has now somewhat improved.
One of the surest and most satisfactory indications of an increased interest in the programme generally is to be seen in the space now being given to comment on them in the newspapers. A number of papers now run a weekly radio column and the writers of these columns are in constant touch with the broadcasting service and are supplied with information on the programmes, on broadcasting policy and on future plans. It is clear that these columns would not be published if the newspapers concerned did not feel that they would have a big interest for their readers and the way in which they are being conducted tends to keep readers well informed and to induce a balanced judgment of the programmes.
The Broadcasting Advisory Commitmittee has met at fairly regular intervals, usually once a month, and has been most helpful to the Director of Broadcasting in the examination of current programmes and the discussion of suggestions for improvements and for new features. The debt of gratitude which we already owed to the committee has been substantially increased during the past year.
In the past, I have suggested that Deputies might confine their remarks on this Estimate to matters of general principle or policy. I repeat that suggestion. Detailed queries or recommendations can be dealt with more readily and satisfactorily by correspondence with the director or by personal discussion with the directorate staff.
