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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 9 Oct 2002

Vol. 554 No. 5

Written Answers. - Television Reception.

Finian McGrath

Ceist:

800 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he will investigate a proposal to retransmit the RTE signal in order that people in Northern Ireland can view RTE. [15474/02]

I am not clear as to what proposal the Deputy is referring to. I understand RTE services are available to a significant proportion of the population of Northern Ireland by means of over-spill of the analogue terrestrial signal from this State with some carriage by cable operators. The Broadcasting Act, 2001 includes a provision whereby I can require that a digital terrestrial television company in this State must carry those channels that are receivable throughout the whole of Northern Ireland on a free-to-air basis. This provision was included in the 2001 Act with a view to arriving at a situation in the future where, in a digital era, all channels available free-to-air on the island would be available throughout the entire island.

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