Calls for de Valera to prevent UK sale of radio mast

The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, has been urged to prevent the sale of Ireland's only long-wave radio transmitter to an overseas commercial interest.

In a last-ditch effort to stop the deal, Mr Enda O'Kane, a former RT╔ employee who has been campaigning on the issue for several months, has appealed to the Minister to ensure the transmitter is protected as a national asset.

Located in Summerhill, Co Meath, the facility is currently used by the radio station Atlantic 252, which mainly broadcasts popular music to the UK and Ireland.

Earlier this month, Radio Tara Ltd, which owns the station, sold 80 per cent of its interest for £2 million to TEAMtalk Media Group, which plans to use the transmitter to broadcast a 24-hour sports radio station to the UK.

Mr O'Kane said the transmitter was currently being "misused" by broadcasting wall-to-wall pop music. But this was no reason to allow it be sold to a commercial interest with no public service broadcasting dimension, he said.

RT╔, which owns 20 per cent of Atlantic 252, along with the licence for broadcasting on the transmitter, sanctioned the sale two weeks ago.

Mr O'Kane said, however, he believed the Minister had the power to prevent the deal going through. He said the transmitter could be used for a "national emergency channel" that could be utilised in the case of a nuclear emergency as part of the national nuclear emergency plan.

It could also be used for all-Ireland programming in accordance with the aspirations of the Belfast Agreement. "There is an important north-south dimension. This is the only long-wave facility on the island of Ireland. It should be used for native programming," he said.

Supporting the campaign for the retention of the transmitter is the former taoiseach, Mr John Bruton, who said it should be used "to rebroadcast to Britain a mix of Irish programmes output from northern and southern stations, both commercial and public."

A spokesperson for Ms de Valera was unavailable for comment last night.