Irish in Britain has partnered with the GAA in Britain, Birmingham Irish Association, Leeds Irish Health and Homes, Irish Chaplaincy and Mind Yourself to retain Long Wave broadcasts of RTÉ Radio 1, which are a vital life–line to many isolated or elderly Irish people in Britain and across much of western Europe.
You can sign the petition here – remember those most affected are unlikely to use the internet so please help anyone you know to sign and share.
Noreen Bowen of Global Irish appeared on the Today Show with John O’Rourke on RTÉ Radio 1 this morning to argue for the service to be retained. You can download a podcast here (select LongWave closure)
Make Your Voice Heard
During the interview, Jim Jennings, Managing Director, RTE Radio said that they only received a handful of complaints (36) when they stopped the service for two days some weeks ago – if you wish to complain you can do so by email, telephone or post. October 27 2014 was originally proposed as the last day of LW broadcasting but RTÉ pushed this back in response to Irish in Britain’s online petition which has attracted over 500 signatures in its first 3 days. Over the next three months, RTÉ will be collecting opinion on the matter. You can call +353 1 208 3111; email complaints@rte.ie or post to: 2nd Floor Admin Building, RTÉ, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, Ireland.
We are requesting that RTE keep its broadcasting services to the Irish in Britain. RTE announced with one month’s notice that it would shut down its longwave service on October 27. This move was done with no consultation with its listeners, and will be a significant loss to the whole Irish community.
A wide section of the Irish community listens to RTE Radio 1 on longwave in Britain – people of all ages listen in their cars, sports fans hear GAA matches, and for many older emigrants, it is a treasured link with home. There are no adequate alternatives for many people: RTE advises listening online or via satellite, but these are not accessible to everyone. Listeners in Britain (and Northern Ireland) will not be able to use DAB, which RTE is also pushing as an alternative, as that signal is only available in parts of Ireland.
Older people are likely to be hardest hit by the shutdown, and many of them will lose this powerful link with Ireland forever. As the chair of the Provincial Council of the GAA of Britain, Brendie Brien, has said, longwave provides “a home from home – and the shutdown would be depriving them of that.” The shutdown will be “a massive setback to the whole of the Irish community…We have a lot of old people who wouldn’t be into modern IT – and who won’t have any access to Ireland whatsoever once that would go.”
RTE does not know how many people are affected by the shutdown of this vital service and have not released the amount of money this will save. The longwave transmitter is only ten years old.
We are asking for RTE to postpone the longwave shutdown until there are better alternatives for all the Irish in Britain.
We are asking for RTE to postpone the longwave shutdown until there are better alternatives for all the Irish in Britain.