[squonk]

Originally Posted by todolist

You need to get REAL.Nobody speaks Irish(A few thousand claim they have a few words).

Are you trolling?

As per the 2011 census of Ireland :

Of the 1.77 million who indicated they could speak Irish,77,185 said they speak it daily outside the education system. A further 110,642 said they spoke it weekly, while 613,236 said they spoke it less often. One in four said they never spoke Irish. The numbers speaking Irish on a daily basis outside the education system increased by 5,037 persons since 2006 from 72,148 to 77,185; the numbers speaking weekly showed an increase of 7,781 persons, while those speaking Irish less often showed the largest increase of 27,139

I think you'll agree that that is certainly a bit more than 'a few thousand'. A lot of those increases can be attributed to various different things, gaelscoileanna for instance but certainly TG4 represents a large contribution also. TG4 is a successful attempt to increase the usage of Irish properly, unlike the failed attempts of the past where Peig was learned by rote and grammar was drummed into students ad nauseum.

Frankly there are other aspects of the national broadcaster that could be cut without a loss of a genuine public service like TG4.

[Owen]

Where are you getting those figures? A Radio Station in Cork announced a few weeks back based on figures from the census that less than 2% of the population actually use Irish in their daily lives.

Irish Language, while I speak it fluently and enjoy it, is the most redundant thing we teach and promote in Ireland. Let it flourish on it's own by choice, but spending millions running a TV Station that has to be subtitled, and teaching our kids Irish and not a language they can actually use later in life seems ... well, stupid.

[squonk]

The figures come from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language

While I agree with some of what you say, there is a chicken and egg effect really. Lots of people will not learn the language if they have no chance to use it. It won't be widely used until a lot of people speak it. TG4 is providing excellent programming that people will want to watch. The fact that there are subtitles allows them to partake also but the unseen effect is that you're also listening while you're reading those subtitles so, over time, your Irish does improve. I hold that as a good thing. The language is part of our culture. I think that's worth saving as it's part of our national identity. There are so many influences out there culturally today that people are free to pick and choose.

Looking longer term, if today we let our language go what about maybe 50 years down the road if perhaps the GAA isn't doing that well and is in serious decline. Should we stand idly by and let that go? Fifty years after that if traditional music is in decline and tunes are being lost due to players dying off, should we just let that go too? Where do we end up?

Thanks to TG4 we not only get to enjoy our League matches during the winter but we also get first rate traditional music and other aspects of Irish culture on a weekly basis. that's what I want to watch. I watch TG4 far more than any other Irish station and I find very little of interest on RTE1 or 2. TG4 does what it does very, very well and should be commended for it. That's not to say that they couldn't be doing more but for a relatively young station, there's a lot they're doing right.

[Clanket]

I never speak Irish but find myself watching TG4 far more than I do RTE1 or 2. There's no way it should be cut. It's great.

[Jayob10]

surely Tubs, Duffy and co. back up their salary demands with advertising revenue figures no? I'd imagine this is how RTE make their money, ads during the late late, ads being premium rate during breaks on Duffy's show etc????

Now I for one would love to see the back of some of these talentless hacks, but simply replacing Duffy with a lesser name would also impact upon ad sales i'd imagine. Its not a simple case of like for like.

Its quite simple though, certain presenters are appealing to nobody outside of RTE. Well not to the value of what RTE pay them anyways. Duffy, Finucane for starters would not be major names anywhere else. RTE pay the most, so even if Newstalk, today fm or whoever wanted them, they would have to take a significant paycut.

Tubridy as bad as he is would find his niche as a middle of the road irishman in the UK. The ship may have sailed for Kenny and O'Callaghan also.

RTE would be a very exciting project for someone with genuine vision, who was willing to cull the deadwood, end the culture of nepotism and promote value for money in terms of original, watchable programming.

[Owryan]

Originally Posted by plasmaguy

Joe Duffy, seems a nice guy, but ffs, there is no talent demanded in his job, all he says is "go ahead ____", or "you're on Liveline, go ahead" for an hour a day if you include news and breaks. Wtf? Anyone with without a brain could do that.

FYP

My biggest gripe with rte is how it uses its own shows to promote each other, every talk show will feature the guest/presenter/star of another rte show and its very in your face .

Something else i hate is the way they seem to buy up all the latest US shows and stick them on at all hours, i personally believe they are buying them up to stop tv3 getting them .

Oh and teir big name "stars" are grossly over paid, self important twats

[squonk]

In fairness, the BBC are guilty of using their own shows to promote their other shows as well. I used to love the Jonathan Ross show on the beeb. The interviews were always top notch and great craic, except at least every fortnight he'd have some comedian on or some actor who just happened to have something starting on BBC 1 or 2 the following weekend. Lowest of the low was when he had the three judges or whatever they are from Strictly Come Dancing on. I've never watched the show and I certainly didn't want to spend part of my Friday night listening to 3 z-listers plugging some piece of crap I had no interest in! OK, he had hollywood actors on plugging pieces of crap too but at least he knocked a bit of fun out of them and you could laugh along!

[squonk]

In fairness, the BBC are guilty of using their own shows to promote their other shows as well. I used to love the Jonathan Ross show on the beeb. The interviews were always top notch and great craic, except at least every fortnight he'd have some comedian on or some actor who just happened to have something starting on BBC 1 or 2 the following weekend. Lowest of the low was when he had the three judges or whatever they are from Strictly Come Dancing on. I've never watched the show and I certainly didn't want to spend part of my Friday night listening to 3 z-listers plugging some piece of crap I had no interest in! OK, he had hollywood actors on plugging pieces of crap too but at least he knocked a bit of fun out of them and you could laugh along!

[jimmynokia]

Well gerry is 2years gone so RIP.
RTE have struggled since.
IvE SEEN SEVERAL threads opened and closed today on this,some for no reason and some for a reason,my thoughts on seen who closed them a bit strange,but when you actually think about it i know why.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by squonk

In fairness, the BBC are guilty of using their own shows to promote their other shows as well. I used to love the Jonathan Ross show on the beeb. The interviews were always top notch and great craic, except at least every fortnight he'd have some comedian on or some actor who just happened to have something starting on BBC 1 or 2 the following weekend. Lowest of the low was when he had the three judges or whatever they are from Strictly Come Dancing on. I've never watched the show and I certainly didn't want to spend part of my Friday night listening to 3 z-listers plugging some piece of crap I had no interest in! OK, he had hollywood actors on plugging pieces of crap too but at least he knocked a bit of fun out of them and you could laugh along!

Would agree. Was listening to BBC Radio 1 yesterday while up North. Lost count of the number of times the presenter referenced The voice. Also some of the tracks e.g. Stereophonics were featured in the Top 40 because their track was featured in the show.

Graham Norton also plugs TV shows.

[suzzi]

To get back to the OP question;

Yes, RTE are in trouble. They paid overrated salaries to underrated people (presenters/producers etc) when they took their eye off the ball.

Now they are accountable to the public and they pontificate to us (the people who pay their licence fee) how terrible it is to be "struggling" without an ounce of irony!

No. We should not pray for Gerry Ryan. He lived his life as he wanted, took the money and, at the same time, sang the same old tune as his colleagues.

What he did in his private life was his own business but I would like now not to have to listen how we cannot do without him.

Move on RTE. Do the job that I pay you for. 160E this month for what?

[Yamanoto]

Originally Posted by jimmynokia

Well gerry has left us and he was the anchor at rte

Topical

[withless]

It would appear that the wait for a new Gerry (an RTE personality with a personality) will be a long one. Their breeding grounds such as kids tv or sports has been fallow for a long time.

When is the tv license up for debate by our glorious leaders in de Dail?

[jimmynokia]

Originally Posted by Yamanoto

Topical

yeah you have me now

[patwicklow]

Do us all a favor ZTE and close up shop its very very over rated with over rated knob heads as the so call stars they could not even be called Z listers.So time to break up the cartel..