Written evidence from An Cheathrú
Ghaeltachta Teo
— I am/We are concerned over the lack
of secure funding for Irish language broadcasting and a lack of
equity with other Celtic languages in the UK; — Access
to Irish language programming is an essential element of public
service broadcasting in Northern Ireland;
— The Westminster Government has a
statutory and legal imperative, through the Good Friday Agreement,
to fund Irish language television. The UK Government has entered
into a treaty obligation which needs to be honoured in full;
— The ILBF needs to be guaranteed long-term
sufficient continuing funding to fill a serious gap in the public
television service in Northern Ireland;
— The funding imbalance for programme
production within the indigenous languages of the UK needs to
be addressed as a matter of urgency;
— There needs to be clear principles
established on which the broadcasting of Irish language programmes
can be incorporated into the UK's broadcasting system and not
provided mainly by external channels, such as TG4 or RT;
— The BBC has made a commitment to
"an incremental increase" in Irish language television
provision'. If long-term funding is not secured for the ILBF,
the BBC will be unable to proceed with the proposed increase or
may not even be able to maintain the current levels of programming;
— The Irish speaking community in NI
continues to grow as witnessed by census figures and the growth
of Irish medium education. This community must be provided with
a sufficient service by the PSB provider.
28 April 2009
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