I thank the Cathaoirleach for choosing this matter for the Adjournment.
The decision by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland on 29 April last to withdraw the broadcasting licence of North West Radio came as a bombshell to the station management, the shareholders and to its excellent staff. Above all, it came as a thunderbolt to the hundred of thousands of loyal listeners in counties Sligo, Donegal and Leitrim who, daily, have tuned into station for the last 13 years. The decision quite frankly stinks.
The injustices of it is put clearly into perspective when one considers that on the very day the BCI announced that it was not renewing the North West Radio licence, the station achieved a 68% listenership rating from the JNLR. This figure was no temporary blip or aberration. For the past 13 years, NWR has had consistently high listenership ratings. It has been invariably rated by the public as the most second most successful station in the entire country.
The way the decision was made is open to major question. There are ten members on the BCI, but only six were present for the deliberations on the vote. A 60% attendance for such a crucial decision is insufficient and indefensible. Three members voted for NWR and three for the rival consortium Ocean FM. It took the casting vote – in other words, a second vote – by the chairman, Mr. Conor Maguire, to carry the day for Ocean FM.
Those who voted against North West Radio also disregarded the presentation made to the commission by the BCI chief executive. The chief executive could not be more positive or complimentary to NWR. The shareholders and directors, he said, had remained largely the same. The management of the station by Tommy Marron and Mary Daly had been successful. Staffing levels were satisfactory and salaries were average for the business. The JNLR figures underlined the fact that the programme mix had been successful and balanced and he emphasised the commitment to drama and writing. Transmission and coverage was good.
There was only one negative feature, the lack of disabled access. This had been addressed by NWR in its presentation to the commission. Just as is happening in Ballyhaunis with its sister station, Mid West Radio, a new state-of-the-art studio was to be built. The station had already opened a new wheelchair accessible state-of-the-art studio in Donegal town.
In spite of its superb track record, its high listenership rating and the glowing analysis by the BCI's chief executive, the commission awarded the licence to a new consortium with absolutely no broadcasting experience. In its report, the justification of the commission could not have been more flimsy, more ridiculous or trumped up. It questioned the issue of shared broadcasting. However, for 13 years, neither the BCI nor its predecessor, the Independent Radio and Television Commission, raised this issue with North West Radio management. The listenership figures proved conclusively that joint programming is successful. How does this fit with the joint programming of Shannonside FM and Northern Sound radio and the two Cork stations owned by County Media?
The whole thing is a sham. It is clear that merit, experience, track record and popularity count for nothing. It is patently obvious that political forces were at play. This is not the first weird or questionable decision by the BCI. Equally unfathomable were the decisions made in relation to the award of licences in counties Tipperary and Kilkenny but the NWR decision is the most unfair and bizarre of the lot.
I welcome the decision by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Dermot Ahern, toexamine the role and composition of the BCI. It is farcical that a commission composed of people with absolutely no broadcasting experience should have the power to award valuable, commercial broadcasting licences. I welcome the commitment by the Minister to review the method of awarding commercial licences by the BCI but it is too late for North West Radio, or is it? Does the Minister have any power vested in him under the Radio and Television Act 1988 to put a stay on the award of a licence? Does he have the power to revoke a BCI decision where the decision made is patently unjustified and unjustifiable? If he has such power, he should use it to right what is an utter travesty.