asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will state in respect of the presentation of the news in Irish from Radio Éireann, the manner in which the news items are received, edited and presented, with particular reference to whether a permanent translation staff is employed, whether the news readers are permanent members of the Radio Éireann staff and whether the script is made available to the reader in typewritten form.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - News in Irish.
The news items are received in Radio Éireann principally from the news agencies, from local correspondents and staff reporters. The news readers in Irish are not permanent members of the staff. They are employed in rotation, two at a time, for weekly periods. The two men collaborate in the editing and translation of the material and one of them broadcasts it. The general news in the station is typed by the newsmen themselves, but I am informed that the men engaged on the news in Irish do not type their script. As, however, the man who reads the bulletin is engaged in preparing it beforehand, the manuscript is probably as convenient as a typescript.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will state why no provision is made for special features as part of the news in Irish, in view of the fact that such features frequently form part of the news in English, and that at least two of the members of the Radio Éireann travelling unit staff are proficient Irish speakers.
Recorded extracts from the speeches of the principal speakers at functions or recorded interviews with prominent people generally form an essential part of these special features of topical interest which are included in the news bulletins. The functions or interviews in which the speakers use Irish are not so frequent as to justify the employment of descriptive news writers specially for Irish.
The two members of the Radio Éireann travelling unit referred to as being proficient in Irish are not on the news staff. Their main job as outside broadcasts officers is to organise and record material in Irish and English of a more permanent interest than passing news. Their features are generally broadcast as programmes apart from the news. They are, however, occasionally employed as required to do special news features in Irish on important occasions or events.