Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 26 Oct 1995

Vol. 457 No. 6

Written Answers. - RTE Reception in Northern Ireland.

Ivor Callely

Ceist:

54 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the level of RTE reception available to viewers of Northern Ireland; the proposals, if any, he has to improve such coverage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15613/95]

James McDaid

Ceist:

56 Dr. McDaid asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the communications, if any, he has had to date with RTÉ with a view to getting a stronger signal into Northern Ireland; and if any, barriers, political or otherwise, are being put in his way. [15285/95]

Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (Mr. M. Higgins)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 54 and 56 together.

Deputies may wish to refer to a reply given by the Tánaiste to a similar question on 18 October 1995.

RTE estimate that, at present, less than one third of the population of Northern Ireland is able to receive RTE television if they are prepared to invest in the necessary equipment. The quality of reception varies considerably.

In 1993, the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference established a bilateral group of officials to examine the issues involved in improving the reception of RTE television in Northern Ireland. The Irish side comprised officials of my Department, the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, the Department of Foreign Affairs and RTE. The group reported to the Conference that the removal of the current power restrictions towards Northern Ireland of the RTE transmitter at Clermont Carn, County Louth offers the best prospect of an improvement in the short-term. However, the UK side had concerns that reception of Northern Ireland television services in the North would be adversely affected if the power northwards from the Clermont Carn transmitter was increased. It was agreed that further technical examination was necessary and RTE undertook to carry out the bulk of this work.

In September 1995 an Irish position paper, based on a report prepared by RTE, was forwarded by the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications to the Radiocommunications Agency which is responsible for broadcast frequency management in the UK. This paper identified technical solutions that would minimise and possibly eliminate the problems foreseen by the UK side. It is expected that technical experts from both sides will meet shortly to consider this paper with a view to reaching an agreed engineering position on the matter. At this stage, there is no reason to believe that there is a political barrier to extending and improving RTE reception in Northern Ireland. In this context, the British Ambassador has recently stated that "The British Government fully supports RTE's desire to enhance its service to the Northern Ireland audience."