SO, here it is... after years of lobbying, plotting and planning, Teilifis na Gaeilge finally hits our screens at 8 p.m. on Thursday night with Oscailt, described unassumingly as "the stunningly visual and musical opening of Ireland's third national television station", followed by Draiocht, Gabriel Byrne's one-hour drama.
Most coverage of TnaG, up to now has tended to come from two quarters, the totally committed or the vehemently opposed, but now the silent majority will have a chance to see what all the fuss was about. For a member of that majority like myself, the first week's schedules make for interesting and promising reading. As someone who can't speak the language (unlike many people, I don't consider that a Leaving Cert Pass D qualifies me to tick the box marked "proficient" on the census form), and feels neither proud nor ashamed of the fact, I hardly qualify as part of the target core market for the new channel. Uinsionn Mac Dubhghaill in these pages on Wednesday wrote of "people who have no strong feelings either way but who will put up with subtitles if the programme is good enough". That's me.
It's ironic that the most Anglophone parts of the country - those served by cable have to make the least effort to tune into the new channel (although TnaG maintains that the UHF reception problem only affects about 10 per cent of viewers on the west coast). For Cablelink subscribers, TnaG has already replaced the "mosaic" channel - the one with all the little boxes. I was rather fond of the mosaic channel, but these are the sacrifices we all have to make for the greater national good.
Even to a non speaker, it's clear that some of the best programmes currently on Irish television are in the first national language. Programmes like Cursai Ealaine and Le Argas often display a lot more vim and vigour than their English language counterparts. If TnaG can maintain or build on those standards, then it should be able to secure a niche in the country's affections.
It's possible, however, that one of the reasons for the quality of Irish-language programming is its relatively sheltered status. New programmes in Irish don't tend to come under the same sort of spotlight as English-language material (especially drama) on RTE. In' the case of TnaG, critical attention will be focused on the station's flagship programmes from the very start. With a new soap opera (Ros na Run), comedy drama (CU Burn) and one-off dramas such as Draiocht, TnaG can expect to be the subject of considerable interest, some of which is bound to be critical. It's inevitable that some of these programmes will be better than others - it's equally inevitable that some will fail dismally - but it's vital that the station doesn't fall into the paranoid fear of failure that afflicts RTE.
Trawling through the first week's schedules, there are several things which seem to be well worth watching. John Huston - An tEireanach, on Sunday, November 3rd, is a documentary about the 20 years the famous film director spent in Galway, looking at the effect he had on people in the Irish film industry. Eire Neodrach, narrated by Mick Lally, uses previously unseen archive footage to follow the history of Ireland during the second World War.
Coming up shortly is Cuimhni Gaeltachta, which features the likes of T.K. Whitaker, Nell McCafferty and Alan Dukes revisiting the Irish colleges of their youth. This all sounds like promising stuff.
The Hothouse Flowers seem to be acting as house band for the station, which is hardly going to raise the hopes of music lovers. But other music programming includes Sull, a weekly series presented every Wednesday by Donal Lunny, which promises guests including Elvis Costello, Van Morrison and Christy Moore.
IT'S an ambitious-looking schedule, and TnaG can legitimately hope it will be well be reserved until we see the actual programmes (full preview tapes were not available this week). There are no honeymoons in broadcasting, though, and amateurishness or recurring technical glitches will not be well received.
