Vol. 478 No. 3
19 Mr. N. Treacy asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications the dates on which Ireland signed international broadcasting agreements; if he will give details of these agreements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10925/97]
The Deputy will appreciate that Ireland is a party to many international broadcasting agreements, I assume that what he is referring to here relates to the agreements which regulate the use of the radio frequency spectrum for broadcasting purposes.
The following are the more important of these agreements which have been signed by Ireland. The agreements were made following meetings of the International Telecommunications Union and the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations of which Ireland is a member. To distinguish these agreements from each other it is conventional to cite the city in which the meeting was held.
International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
1. Final Acts of the European VHF-UHF broadcasting conference, Stockholm, signed by Ireland on 23 June 1961.
This is the basic international agreement in relation to the use of VHF (very high frequency) and UHF (ultra high frequency) bands for television broadcasting.
2. Final Acts of the Regional Administrative LF-MF Broadcasting Conference, (regions I and 3), Geneva signed by Ireland on 22 November 1975.
This agreement deals with radio broadcasting on long wave and medium wave frequencies.
3. Final Acts of the World Administrative Radio Conference for the planning of broadcasting-satellite service in frequency bands 117-12.2 GHz (in regions 2 and 3) and 11.7-12.5 GHz (in region 1), Geneva, signed by Ireland on 13 February 1977.
This agreement deals with frequency use for satellite broadcasting.
4. Final Acts of the Regional Administrative Conference for the planning of VHF sound broadcasting (region I and part of region 3), Geneva, signed by Ireland on 7 December 1984.
