ONE factor has dissipated much of the criticism of Teilifis na Gaeilge, the appointment of Cathal Goan as Ceannasai.
It was his insistence that the real debate was about content rather than the cost to the Exchequer, its location in the constituency of the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, or its potential to turn into a white elephant.
His success is apparent in that some of the station's former critics now insist that its success will depend on its programme quality.
Teilifis na Gaeilge, or TnaG, goes on air in five days' time. We are more media sophisticated today than on the eve of 1961, when Teilifis Eireann was launched. So we are unlikely to question the social and cultural impact of the new station, as President de Valera and Cardinal DAlton did the untried medium.
Yet TnaG's impact will be more significant than that of just another channel. It will probably be most influential in the programme making area rather than in the Irish language.
A generation of independent programme makers, who still feel outsiders when it comes to RTE, will have a voice and access to a station totally committed, as a publisher broadcaster, to the independent programmemaking sector. One programme, Sift, made by Hummingbird Productions, has already been sold into the US market.
Goan has achieved another distinction. He has neutralised both the Irish language lobby and those opposed to anything to do with the language. TnaG, under Cathal Goan will be simply television in the Irish language.
The difference is crucial, because if TnaG is not about reviving the language but about offering a service in Irish, then there are no problems about subtitles, or songs with words in English, or news interviews, if necessary, in English.
Philip King, an independent producer, first met Goan when King was a radio producer in RTE and Goan was working in RTE's library. King talks of Goan's passion for programme content, how he can motivate people and how he has given independent programme makers a real relationship with the station.
Goan is from north Belfast and was educated at St Malachy's College, Belfast. He read Celtic Studies at UCD and graduated in 1975.
He is an acknowledged expert on Irish song, both in English and Irish, especially of the Donegal Gaeltacht, and he has lectured and written extensively on the subject. Goan is married to the scan nos singer. Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill. They have a son and a daughter.
He joined the Irish Placenames Commission before going to RTE in 1979. He was a radio producer, working on Today At Five and The Pat Kenny Show and other current affairs programmes, and made radio documentaries. In the late 1980s he produced a landmark documentary series on the Gaeltacht, An Ghaeltacht Inniu, with the late Breandan O hEithir.
He moved to television in 1988 and produced and worked on Today Tonight. He moved to edit Cursai, the Irish language current affairs and arts programme. He was appointed editor of Irish language programmes in 1990, where he increased the output, especially in the children's programme area. A number of programmes in the ECU! ECU! series won awards.
He was involved in bringing the Irish language soap, Ros na Run, to the screen in 1993. This attracted audiences of up to 360,000, the highest ratings ever for an Irish language programme. That same programme will be the keystone of the TnaG schedule.
Former RTE colleagues have no doubt the schedule will have Goan's signature all over it and will reflect his commitment to programming. He is in a powerful position, being both the chief executive of the station and controller of programmes.
From the taste of the schedule shown at the recent press launch it is clearly diverse, offering from pre school programmes to Ole, Ole, the Spanish premier league soccer with Irish commentary. It is enthusiastic and above all very, very young, going for an audience that never knew about compulsory Irish and has few hang ups about the language.
However, this can be a difficult audience, watching less and less television and showing little channel loyalty. It is an audience that has grown up with multi channel TV who are used to channel hopping.
Debates about the cost, the slow rate of preparing legislation to give the channel its legal independence and whether it should cater for a Gaeltacht audience or a national one have surrounded TnaG.
Internationally the trend has been to create more commercial television for increasingly niche audiences. Within Europe and the US home shopping, motor racing, soccer and even the weather all have their own channels. More are financed by subscription, while TnaG is a full blown public service channel, financed by the State and by advertising.
Cathal Goan is the first programme maker in charge of an Irish television broadcasting organisation. TnaG is about programmes, and at the end of the day Goan will be judged not by how many people use Irish in their daily lives, but by his programmes, his programme mix, how major news is covered.
When that is understood, then the £15 million £10 million from the Exchequer and £5 million in programmes from RTE is a relatively small amount on which to run a television service.