[article] TDs fear backlash over new €100,000 'Dail TV' channel

Apogee

Irish Independent wrote:

TDs fear backlash over new €100,000 'Dail TV' channel

By Michael Brennan
Thursday October 06 2011

A new 'Dail TV' channel will be up and running by the end of the year -- but TDs are fearful of a public backlash.

The channel will be broadcast to a limited number of cities -- with Cork, Dublin and Galway expected to be among the chosen few -- on a pilot basis.

The estimated cost of the pilot is around €20,000 for a month -- but this sum would reach €100,000 for a full year.

An Oireachtas Commission confirmed last night that it was exploring the possibility of a parliamentary channel at minimal cost.

"It's early days and no decision has been taken yet," a spokesman said.

All Dail and Seanad debates are filmed live and are available for viewing on the Oireachtas website -- as are committee meetings.

A political source confirmed that the current plan is to have the new channel transmitted on a pilot basis by the end of the year.

It would be possible to use the new RTE digital TV service Saorview to broadcast the channel.

But there are signs already that TDs are opposed to the plan because they know it will generate a public backlash.

The issue was discussed yesterday by the all-party Joint Administrative Committee and a source said there was "huge resistance" to the plan there.

The most common argument was that it was hard to justify spending any money on it due to two factors -- the economic recession and the limited public appetite for such a channel.

Not quite sure why they propose limiting it to a few cities - using the second mux in those cities only, but not anywhere else? Or transmit it over UPC's cable network?

Johnboy1951

The channel will be broadcast to a limited number of cities -- with Cork, Dublin and Galway expected to be among the chosen few -- on a pilot basis.

Seems ridiculous .... maybe be no interest in their 'doings' in the rest of the country .... ye think?

Put it up on Saorview before ASO and see how it fares out.
They should have done so during the complete testing phase.

Machinehead

I don't think that cost is the overriding issue for the elected Dáil & Seanad representatives. I also think that they are fully aware that public opinion on the cost is the issue but in reality it's the appalling attendance at Dáil sessions which will be live on air for the electorate to see at the click of the channel button.

mike65

There should be a Dail channel (with coverage of committees and so on) and 100k is a piddling amount, not sure why trailing this on parts of the UPC network makes any sense when RTE News Now is up and running. But then maybe I'm missing something.

Gerry Wicklow

Machinehead wrote: »

I don't think that cost is the overriding issue for the elected Dáil & Seanad representatives. I also think that they are fully aware that public opinion on the cost is the issue but in reality it's the appalling attendance at Dáil sessions which will be live on air for the electorate to see at the click of the channel button.

+1

If all of this is currently being filmed anyway for the website then the only extra cost would be transmission fees. Either way the taxpayer will be funding the costs from the Dáil budget or RTÉNL, it's all smoke and mirrors IMO.
Also, why give it to UPC, a commercial company rather than a national network?

The Cush

+1 to all of the above.

Get it onto Saorview, what do they mean on a pilot basis in a number of areas?

Our taxes pay for the Oireachtas and the transmisssion network, do they now plan to restrict it a commercial cable network?

I believe the additional €100,000 p.a. (transmission costs?) is a small addition to the current €2 million plus cost of televising the Oireachtas. Let the country see what they do live Dail, Seanad and Committes. Many people don't have access to broadband or knowledge how to view the current online service.

Three paragraphs from the paper edition are not included in the online article

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern suggested in 2007 that a dedicated channel with coverage of Dail and Seanad and Oireachtas committees could replace the current "rubbish" on the TV schedules.

The final decision on the new channel will be made by the Oireachtas Commission headed by Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett.

It is due to meet at the end of next month.

With the decision to be made at the end of the month maybe people should make their opinions known to the Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett and the Oireachtas Commission

sean.barrett@oireachtas.ie
ceann.comhairle@oireachtas.ie

The current 2011 estimate for televising the Oireachtas is €1.858 million with an additional €385,000 required before the end of the year.

This from the Minutes of the Commission meeting, Tuesday 19th July, 2011

18. PARLIAMENTARY CHANNEL.

The Ceann Comhairle reported progress on the considerations of the project team established to assess the options available for the development and launch of a parliamentary channel and the cost effectiveness of the various options. The Commission noted that a policy proposal in this matter will be submitted to the Joint Administration Committee for its views and subsequently on to the Commission for final consideration and decision.

http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/commission/m260111.pdf

TheDriver

the dail stuff is incredibly boring when they waffle on about some local crap with 3 people in the dail, don't blame poor attendance at times....

10000maniacs

If the feeds are available already, how is it going to cost anything?
Just replace one of those testcards currently on Saorview with the Dail TV channel. How is that €20,000 per month broken down? A public enquiry should be held as to why its going to cost €20,000 per Month. its a load of codswallop if you ask me.

The Cush

10000maniacs wrote: »

Just replace one of those testcards currently on Saorview with the Dail TV channel. How is that €20,000 per month broken down? A public enquiry should be held as to why its going to cost €20,000 per Month.

Unfortunately they haven't uploaded the transcript or video of the Joint Administrative Committee (yet?) where this was discussed so we don't know how the €20k/€100k is broken down but my guess it's the transmission and distribution cost for terrestrial/cable?. It won't be carried FOC. The existing channels on Saorview pay a lot more than that for carriage.

Minstrel27

Outrageous that this will be available to only some of the population. It shouldbe available to all.

icdg

Apogee wrote: »

Not quite sure why they propose limiting it to a few cities - using the second mux in those cities only, but not anywhere else? Or transmit it over UPC's cable network?

Very few people in Dublin use terrestrial on their main sets, so Saorview is not a good way to get it to a Dublin audience. UPC is by far the dominent provider in Dublin so that would be the best bet.

But agreed, any Oireachtas channel should be across all platforms and nationwide.

And on that note, moving to Broadcasting.

afatbollix

The Cush wrote: »

Our taxes pay for the Oireachtas and the transmisssion network, do they now plan to restrict it a commercial cable network?

I believe the additional €100,000 p.a. (transmission costs?) is a small addition to the current €2 million plus cost of televising the Oireachtas. Let the country see what they do live Dail, Seanad and Committes. Many people don't have access to broadband or knowledge how to view the current online service.

I work in Producing Tv channels in the UK & Ireland 100k is very cheap for running a tv channel. As this TV would mostly be live you would need alot of staff to run the channel its not like you can just show nothing to air People will just turn over.

Your talking about 20 people doing 50 hour weeks here to run the channels. + cost for all the equipment.

ted1

It would prove useful to students. It will help them understand why our country is in such a bad state. As well as see how the oireachtas works.

Johnboy1951

afatbollix wrote: »

I work in Producing Tv channels in the UK & Ireland 100k is very cheap for running a tv channel. As this TV would mostly be live you would need alot of staff to run the channel its not like you can just show nothing to air People will just turn over.

Your talking about 20 people doing 50 hour weeks here to run the channels. + cost for all the equipment.

I don't see it .... the equipment is there and in use. It is used to stream to the internet I believe.
I don't see much cost in hooking the same stream to Saorview .... except for the carrier cost.

http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/livewebcast/Web-Live.htm

The Cush

afatbollix wrote: »

I work in Producing Tv channels in the UK & Ireland 100k is very cheap for running a tv channel. As this TV would mostly be live you would need alot of staff to run the channel its not like you can just show nothing to air People will just turn over.

Your talking about 20 people doing 50 hour weeks here to run the channels. + cost for all the equipment.

Televising the Oireachtas will cost in the region €2.2 this year (see my post above). The extra €100,000 probably applies to distribution/transmission charges.

Was_SeeDot

Apogee wrote: »

Not quite sure why they propose limiting it to a few cities - using the second mux in those cities only, but not anywhere else? Or transmit it over UPC's cable network?

Last year David Harvey from City Channel presented to the Joint Administrative Committee about putting the Oireachtas content onto a UPC channel using the infrastructure he had in Sandyford which delivered the City Channel and UPC Info Channel service.

Perhaps this is the service that will be limited to certain cities - with carraige on saorview awaiting a resolution of the RTE NL carraige cost issue.

Of course the receivership in City Channel may affect who the contractor is.

Apogee

Link:
http://debates.oireachtas.ie/JAC/2010/04/21/00002.asp

The Cush

There was an article in yesterday's Irish Mail on Sunday on this

The Cush

An article in the Sunday Independent reminded me of the discussion we had in early Oct

The cost of TV coverage for publicity hungry TDs and senators is also €381,000 higher than expected.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/so-much-for-austerity-dail-overrun-costs-to-set-us-back-euro139m-2921091.html

Since that time the Minutes of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Meeting of 27 September 2011 have been published on the Dail website. The following is from the minutes

Parliamentary channel.

Arising from the minutes, the Ceann Comhairle announced that subject to technical and
contractual requirements being met, pilot transmissions of Dáil proceedings will
commence in October 2011. A live feed of the proceedings will be redirected from the
Oireachtas broadcasting unit to a UPC channel. Contractually it is only possible to
transmit one House at a time so the pilot will be based on Dáil proceedings. Plans will
be put in place to air recorded sittings of the Seanad and Committees during non-sitting
Dáil periods and weekends. There are no costs involved in this pilot phase.

The Ceann Comhairle confirmed that in the meantime a project team is continuing to
assess the options for the development and launch of the parliamentary channel itself.
This involves addressing the legal, procurement, regulatory and costs factors associated
with the project. The project team is being assisted by an external consultant with
expertise in this area. The Commission noted that a policy proposal in this matter will
be submitted to the Joint Administration Committee for its views and subsequently on
to the Commission for final consideration and decision. Timeframes for commencement
and completion dates will be included in the policy proposal to be decided by the
Commission.

http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/commission/27092011.pdf

The original article in this thread was about a private meeting of the Joint Administration Committee on the 5th Oct, a week after the above Houses of the Oireachtas Committee meeting, which discussed the Dail TV proposal.

At the time we didn't know what was meant by pilot basis but UPC was speculated. The quote from the minutes above does indicate that the plan is/was to carry it on UPC.

According to the the original newspaper article a decision is to be made by the Houses Commission at its next meeting at the end of Nov.

Johnboy1951

A live feed of the proceedings will be redirected from the Oireachtas broadcasting unit to a UPC channel.

I just do not understand the thinking behind this at all.

What is wrong with using Saorview at this time? It seems to be the logical thing to do, as if this does come about it will have to be carried there anyway.
It is not as if there is no space available ........

icdg

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I just do not understand the thinking behind this at all.

What is wrong with using Saorview at this time? It seems to be the logical thing to do, as if this does come about it will have to be carried there anyway.
It is not as if there is no space available ........

I can think of only one reason and it is money. UPC may be offering to carry it for free. RTÉ would no doubt look for the Oireachtas Commission to foot the full transmission costs for the channel.

The Cush

Business of Dáil
Tuesday, 15 November 2011

An Ceann Comhairle: I am pleased to inform Members that as of 2 p.m. today, the proceedings of the House will be broadcast live on channel 801 on the UPC network, as part of a trial initiative for a period of six months. This trial is being provided at no cost to the Exchequer. As Ceann Comhairle, I am particularly pleased that the notion of increased access to the work of Parliament and its Members is being enhanced with the launch of this initiative.

I would like particularly to record my thanks to Dana Strong, chief executive of UPC Ireland, and her team, who have been innovative in their approach and who have proven their commitment to this project from the start. I am excited by the possibilities of this project and I hope that the public will use this facility to follow the work of the Houses of the Oireachtas.

I would also like to welcome Dana Strong from UPC to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery.
http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/2011/11/15/00003.asp

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/seanad/2011/11/15/00003.asp#N13
http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/watchlisten/aboutoireachtastv/
http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/mediazone/pressreleases/name-2733-en.html

Discussion on the "new Oireachtas TV channel" with Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett on RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime programme.
RTÉ Player - http://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=9%3A3111086%3A83%3A15%2D11%2D2011%3A (start at 1:49:25)

News reports
http://www.thejournal.ie/new-dedicated-oireachtas-tv-channel-launches-today-279734-Nov2011/
http://www.businessandleadership.com/marketing/item/33200-dedicated-irish/


Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett and UPC's Dana Strong

rlogue

My own view is that it's an essential part of democracy that a national parliament should be available over as many broadcast platforms as possible. Why shouldn't Oireachtas TV be available on Saorview and satellite?

watty

Penny pinching.
It could have been FTA on Satellite the last 10 years.
It should have been on Saorview from the start.

The entire infrastructure has been running for years. It's online since for ages and was on the DECNR "political" so called trials run by BT in 2006 to 2008.

It's crazy it should be only on UPC which has ZERO free access.

Johnboy1951

It is a disgrace!

I would urge all who feel this is not right to vent their spleen by emailing the contacts given.

I am disgusted. ...... but I suppose I should not expect anything better from our alleged representatives .....

.... a public service broadcast, available only to a small percentage of the population who can access, and who choose to pay for a commercial service which carries the channel .... yeah! real Irish!

icdg

Okay mod hat on first. Can members please refrain from posting very long verbatim articles and press releases.

1. Its a breach of copyright
2. It makes the debate on the thread hard to follow (its essentially split in two)
3. It is absolutely infuriating for anyone reading on a mobile device to scroll through.

Provide the link. If people want to read it, they'll click on. If people don't click on, its not because their lazy, its because **they don't want to read it**. So don't force them to. Okay.

Mod hat off.

To the UPC v Saorview debate - UPC carriage instantly gets the channel into most urban homes. Most people in Dublin don't have Saorview and have no intention of getting Saorview.

UPC has a potential 1 million viewers. That's over a quarter of the population of the State. And UPC is carrying the channel for free.

We don't know what RTÉ's commercial terms for the carriage of the channel would be, but we can take a fair guess that they would involve payment of the full costs of transmission. That isn't something the Oireachtas Commission's budget can observe. The country is broke. It is a luxury we cannot afford.

So unless RTÉ is willing to make this gesture, then Oireachtas TV will likely remain UPC-exclusive.

This isn't me being pro-UPC by the way. I'm all for platform neutrality - all Irish stations being available on all platforms. I'd like RTÉ One+1, RTÉ Two HD, RTÉjr, and RTÉ News Now to be on UPC digital - as the Broadcasting Act 2009 mandates they should be. However while RTÉ refuses to pay ball, I'm not spending hundreds of euros to get a rooftop aerial installed and on Saorview STBs just to get three channels primarly composed of simulcasts and repeats.

Minstrel27

I received this email today after questioning why the channel is appearing on UPC only. they responded with

Dear Minstrel,

I refer to you email below regarding Oireachtas TV. UPC are the only company who agreed to take the broadcast feed from the Oireachtas. The other broadcasters have been kept informed of developments and it is always open to them to take our feed and broadcast it on RTÉ/Saorview or Sky. In fact we would very much welcome it if they did. If at any stage in the future this happens, we will announce it to the media in the usual way to inform people who may be interested in viewing what goes on in the Dáil, Seanad and the Oireachtas Committees.

I hope this clarifies the position for you.

Regards,

Communications Unit,
Tel. (01) 6183910.

They are penny pinching and by doing so are denying television viewers in non UPC areas from seeing what is going on in Dáil Éireann.

Before someone suggests watching via broadband, this is not a practical solution for people who do not have broadband available to them.

watty

It not practical also for many people with pretty good Broadband. Average Cap is maybe 30 GByte and regular video watching (by one person, two people with different stuff is x2) and all the other BB stuff you are soon over 100GByte.

watty

icdg wrote: »

O but we can take a fair guess that they would involve payment of the full costs of transmission. That isn't something the Oireachtas Commission's budget can observe. The country is broke. It is a luxury we cannot afford.

Sheer nonsense. There is more wasted in Government that would pay for this x5 over.

It's stupidity. They will waste Millions to Billions on nonsense. I've been able to get the parliamentary proceedings of lots of poorer countries than Ireland for years.

It's the Typical attitude of successive Governments too also to denigrate RTE in case they actually might ever do decent Political comment.

There is NO excuse to not pay the money. And to be FTA on 28E to over Ireland and UK. No Rights issues.

Typical lack of vision and begrudgery of Infantile Irish politicians.

GusherING

Minstrel27 wrote: »

I received this email today after questioning why the channel is appearing on UPC only. they responded with



They are penny pinching and by doing so are denying television viewers in non UPC areas from seeing what is going on in Dáil Éireann.

Before someone suggests watching via broadband, this is not a practical solution for people who do not have broadband available to them.

In fairness, the penny pinching seems to be done by RTE in this case. They are a public service broadcaster and broadcasting this should be part of their remit.

You can't blame the Oireachtas for being reluctant to spend more taxpayers money.(how often do you hear that being said!:rolleyes:)

Imagine what people would be saying if they spent more of it!!

watty

A PSB is not the same as a Charity.

a)
No-one should be getting a free ride.

b)
RTENL is NOT a PSB. They are purely a Distribution and Transmission company. TV3, TG4, RTE all pay for transmission.

Minstrel27

GusherING wrote: »

In fairness, the penny pinching seems to be done by RTE in this case. They are a public service broadcaster and broadcasting this should be part of their remit.

You can't blame the Oireachtas for being reluctant to spend more taxpayers money.(how often do you hear that being said!:rolleyes:)

Imagine what people would be saying if they spent more of it!!

RTÉ are to blame? Ridiculous. As watty points out it is RTÉNL that run the DTT network.

watty

It's not an RTE channel and they have no content or editorial control of it.

BrianD

Minstrel27 wrote: »

I received this email today after questioning why the channel is appearing on UPC only. they responded with


Dear Minstrel,

Did they really say "Dear Minstrel"?

I suspect it's early days yet for carriage of Oireachtas TV on Saorview. I'd imagine that we would see it added in the future. The Government haven't made it "must carry" so it's not mandatory and RTE NL would be correct to charge for it. Oireachtas TV will still have to pay to get their signal to UPC and pay for EPG services etc. I'd imagine that adding a channel to their platform is relatively cost efficient and it adds an extra item to their sales proposition.

The Cush

The video recording of the Dáil announcement by the Ceann Comhairle that the live proceedings of the Dáil would be carried on UPC channel 801 is now available on the Oireachtas website.

http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=19647&&CatID=130 (starts about 45 secs in)

An Ceann Comhairle: I am pleased to inform Members that as of 2 p.m. today, the proceedings of the House will be broadcast live on channel 801 on the UPC network, as part of a trial initiative for a period of six months. This trial is being provided at no cost to the Exchequer. As Ceann Comhairle, I am particularly pleased that the notion of increased access to the work of Parliament and its Members is being enhanced with the launch of this initiative.

I would like particularly to record my thanks to Dana Strong, chief executive of UPC Ireland, and her team, who have been innovative in their approach and who have proven their commitment to this project from the start. I am excited by the possibilities of this project and I hope that the public will use this facility to follow the work of the Houses of the Oireachtas.

I would also like to welcome Dana Strong from UPC to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery.

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/2011/11/15/00003.asp

rom

Why not have just have a web stream. It just another way to waste money.

JohnK

How is it wasting money? They've always had the web stream and UPC are broadcasting it for free.

icdg

Minstrel27 wrote: »

RTÉ are to blame? Ridiculous. As watty points out it is RTÉNL that run the DTT network.

In fairness, the sole shareholder of RTÉNL is in fact RTÉ. A subsidiary is always a creature of its parent, no matter how many chinese walls are put in.

Minstrel27

icdg wrote: »

In fairness, the sole shareholder of RTÉNL is in fact RTÉ. A subsidiary is always a creature of its parent, no matter how many chinese walls are put in.

RTÉ still pay RTÉ NL just like all other channels on it so I fail to see what point you are trying to make. They are still separate companies.

icdg

Minstrel27 wrote: »

RTÉ still pay RTÉ NL just like all other channels on it so I fail to see what point you are trying to make. They are still separate companies.

From a legal standpoint that is absolutely the case (Salmon v Salmon & Co is your required reading here).

From a practical standpoint it is similar to arguing that say, News Corporation and News International Limited, or ITV plc and ITV Broadcasting Limited, or British Sky Broadcasting Group plc and Sky Television Limited are separate companies. But where a parent company appoints the directors of the subsidiary and takes a dividend from that subsidiary, the extent to which the subsidiary is really an independent company should be questioned.

Yes RTÉ pay RTÉ NL. But if RTÉ NL make a profit, and pay a dividend, that dividend is paid to their sole shareholder - RTÉ.

rlogue

Exactly - and RTE NL are hardly going to bite the parental hand are they? Other than to keep RTE happy I can't see any justification for keeping RTE NL under RTE ownership. It should however remain in state hands.

It would also free RTE from the debt burden of the DTT rollout.

Was_SeeDot

rlogue wrote: »

Exactly - and RTE NL are hardly going to bite the parental hand are they? Other than to keep RTE happy I can't see any justification for keeping RTE NL under RTE ownership. It should however remain in state hands.

It would also free RTE from the debt burden of the DTT rollout.

This is an important point. The last government pushed RTE NL into investing significant sums in to upgrading the transmission network so as to offer carraige to pay operators as well as RTE. When the pay operators disappear (due to changed market conditions / unrealistic plans for pay terrestrial) someone is left holding the baby (or large debt to purchase capital equipment that is not being used). For this reason RTE NL is charging carraige fees (or quoting them anyway) which prevent any new entrants from either looking for spectrum to operate a mux on the RTE NL network or to have a channel carried on an RTE mux which in turn pays the RTE NL carraige fees.

This means the capital equipment goes unused, we end up with saorview having 12 or 13 channels from 2 existing operators, RTE NL is saddled with the debt for the foreseeable and the digital dividend ends up with unused spectrum and an even more closed broadcasting network.

Does anybody know what the electricity costs would be of transmitting an extra mux? Given the capital is in place an imaginative government which wanted to really stimulate a creative economy / society would try and see some of these idle resources used even on short term licenses and low maintenance contracts.

watty

There is no workable financial model for Pay TV or more Free TV on Irish DTT even if someone else paid all the capex. There never was. The "extra" channels have been a fantasy since about 1999. It was never going to happen.

We actually have 4 operators. RTE, TG4,TV3 and the reluctant Oireachtas channel that has the infrastructure and has existed for years waiting for DTT to launch. Now when it does the 4th Operator wants "free"? Umm. They knew in 2001 the Oireachtas channel would have to pay for carriage. It's nothing to do with RTE, TG4 or TV3. It's a 4th "Operator".

Apogee

Budget speech on BBC Parliament.

BrianD

Apogee wrote: »

Budget speech on BBC Parliament.

The point being?

Elmo

The cost of OTV on Soarview and for that matter the IFB Channel could have been solved if the government had decided at some stage to provide a strong FTA DTT option to the Irish public. Simple put had DCENR, The Houses of the Oireachtas and the Irish Film board come together they should have launched "2" new stations instead of DCENR's expensive marketing campaign.

"2" Time sharing on one channel.

Also the Budget speech was carried on RTÉ Two, RTÉ News Now and OTV. BBC have an agreement with the EBU to provide coverage of other EBU member news and current affairs. BBC Parliment also carry coverage of RTÉ's General Election Coverage.

Also there is no need for repeat showings of Oireachtas proceedings.

Sam Russell

Much of OTV could be carried on RTE NewsNow instead of duplicating news broadcasts on RTE1 and RTE2 on that channel. They could also use RTE2 childrens time as well now they have RTE jr. They also have all day Saturday and Sunday when RTE jr is asleep.

RTE are treating Saorview as non-existant until they launch it on 24th October 2012.

Elmo

Sam Russell wrote: »

Much of OTV could be carried on RTE NewsNow instead of duplicating news broadcasts on RTE1 and RTE2 on that channel. They could also use RTE2 childrens time as well now they have RTE jr. They also have all day Saturday and Sunday when RTE jr is asleep.

RTE are treating Saorview as non-existant until they launch it on 24th October 2012.

So are most of the Stakeholders, unless it suits them. I don't know why we need a 12 hour service for OTV. Live OTV is enough with another service sharing the space. Perhaps certain clashing meetings in the Oireachtas can be broadcast as live later, but no need for a "rolling" service.

Yes there was a great opportunity on Budget Day to let TRTÉ continue and advise viewers that the full speech from the Minister could be seen on RTÉ News Now and Heard on either RTÉ Radio 1 Extra or RTÉ Choice.

RTÉJr needs to now move over to RTÉ One until ASO. Allow RTÉ Two to get away from the under 6 market.

Anyway the whole thing is a shame the TDs and Senators should not be worried about looking stupid with a 100,000 Dail TV channel rather they should feel ashamed at the waste of money going into www.goingdigital.ie campaign.

Apogee

Elmo wrote: »

Also the Budget speech was carried on RTÉ Two, RTÉ News Now and OTV. BBC have an agreement with the EBU to provide coverage of other EBU member news and current affairs. BBC Parliment also carry coverage of RTÉ's General Election Coverage.

I recall them carrying GE coverage before, but that would have been courtesy of RTÉ. They would presumably have needed permission from the Broadcasting Unit of the Houses of the Oireachtas for the budget coverage?

Apogee

Irish Times wrote:

Barrett determined to bring 'shouting and roaring' in Dáil under control

DEAGLÁN de BRÉADÚN, Political Correspondent

Tue, Jan 03, 2012

INTERVIEW: FIRST ELECTED as a TD in 1981, Seán Barrett has served as minister for defence and the marine, government whip and now Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil.

In the short gap between the resignation at midnight of president Mary McAleese and the official installation of her successor Michael D Higgins later in the day, Barrett and the other two members of the Presidential Commission – the Chief Justice, and Cathaoirleach of the Seanad – acted as joint heads of State.

Then it was back to his principal role as chairman and regulator of proceedings in the Dáil.

It is a job that would try the patience of a saint at times, but he insists he is enjoying himself.

“Oh, I am. Like everything else, there are parts of it that are difficult enough. The only thing I miss is the cut and thrust of the chamber where I would be debating myself.

“There are times when you are sitting there and you have to bite your lip.”

One of his key targets as Ceann Comhairle is to secure the broadcasting of Dáil proceedings to the entire population on television.

“That’s one of my pet projects. When I took over this job, it was one thing I said to the Taoiseach, that I was very anxious to see being in place as quickly as possible.

“We have live coverage to approximately 25 per cent of the population through UPC, the cable system. What we’re able to do is relay what you see and hear in Leinster House live, and we’re now working towards trying to have Sky take it on board: if that happens I think we’ll be well up to over 90 per cent of the population.” He hopes that, “towards the end” of this year, there will be an Oireachtas channel broadcasting throughout the State that will “advertise on a daily basis, the same as other stations do, what’s on in the Dáil and what’s on in the committees, so people can select”.

Dáil deputies are unlikely to have much difficulty over a Leinster House TV channel, but the dress code issue is a thorny one and Barrett has strong feelings about this too.

“The standing orders say that ‘dress should reflect the integrity of the House’. Now, when I saw this, I said, ‘What does that mean’?” Finally he came to the conclusion that this formulation is “a waste of space. I mean, it doesn’t say anything.”

He needed something more specific: “We put a proposal to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges (CPP), which has been accepted, whereby the male members would wear a shirt with a collar and a jacket and that no denim would be worn by either male or female.

“So CPP approved that, so I’m waiting to see if a motion comes before this parliament.”

His proposals were made just before the summer recess but have not been implemented so far. He doesn’t comment on the reasons but it is understood from other sources that Government parties were concerned certain dedicated casual dressers in the Technical Group would generate a publicity blitz out of refusing to conform.

But Barrett isn’t letting the issue go by default: “In most parliaments there is a certain dress code and it is accepted. I mean, if you look at the Assembly in Northern Ireland, they have the dress code – everybody abides by it.”

He’s not insisting that male deputies wear ties: “We didn’t specify a tie because I think in some parliaments it is the practice that people don’t wear ties, and since the late Tony Gregory, God rest him, that has been established, that you don’t have to wear a tie.”

And the jacket, does it have to be tailored? He smiles: “Yeah – you don’t have to go down to Louis Copeland to get it, you can go anywhere.”

There is also an issue concerning bad language. In the previous Dáil, before Barrett took the chair, Green TD Paul Gogarty caused a storm when he used a four-letter word in addressing Labour’s Emmet Stagg.

More recently, Independent Mattie McGrath used the word “s***e”. Barrett is decidedly unhappy with this development: “The use of that sort of language demeans the House.”

He points out that he was temporarily absent from the chair for the McGrath incident but, if he’d been there, he would have asked the deputy to withdraw the word and refrain from using it in future.

And if he didn’t withdraw it? “Ultimately I have powers to refer the matter to the CPP.” As it happens the two words in question are not among those which have been ruled out of order by successive chairmen over the years.

Apart from unparliamentary language there are a lot of interruptions and a great deal of heckling in the chamber and Barrett is determined to bring the “shouting and roaring”, as he calls it, under control.

“I fully accept in any assembly that there is going to be a bit of banter from time to time – you don’t want to be too pernickety – but preventing somebody from making their point is just unacceptable.”

Everybody knew there was “a certain limit” where it should stop: “You can’t put it down actually on a piece of paper, you can’t say, ‘You’re allowed four shouts or two roars’, but everybody knows what’s acceptable.”

He would like to see a change in the order of business, whereby members could make brief comments of no more than 30 seconds on “a matter of concern” instead of the current situation “where people are hopping up and down and I have to rule them out [because it’s not] relating to promised legislation”.

He has put this proposal to the CPP: “The minister involved could reply the same day by letter or could seek to come in the next day and reply verbally.” A total of three minutes could be allowed for this and a further three minutes if the ministers in question wished to make a brief response.

“There’s an awful lot of things that could cut out disorder if you just gave an opportunity to somebody to hop up and say something,” the Ceann Comhairle says.

Another change he is promoting would, he says, “liven up question time and bring more people into the chamber”. At present, the order in which parliamentary questions are to be taken is decided by lottery a few days beforehand and, as Barrett puts it, “If you’re No 24 you know it won’t be reached.”

He proposes a change whereby he would draw the questions before going down to the chamber. “Nobody would know the draw, so all the deputies who have put down their questions for oral reply will come in because they’ll wait and see are they going to be called. If they’re not there, their reply will go as a written reply but they won’t get in the supplementary. And I think that would liven up question time and bring more people into the chamber.”

Asked how his time in the chair has affected his blood pressure, he replies: “Well, thank God I don’t suffer from blood pressure.” But he has to be stern sometimes? “Sometimes, yeah, I’m human.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0103/1224309736384.html

bobbysands81

TheDriver wrote: »

the dail stuff is incredibly boring when they waffle on about some local crap with 3 people in the dail, don't blame poor attendance at times....

My job is incredIblyboring a lot of the time, I'm still required to attend though.