Minister announces TG4 board members

Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey has announced the members of the new board for TG4.

They include former GAA president Peter Quinn, who will serve as chairman of the board, former Galway hurler Joe Connolly, actor Bríd Ní Neachtáin, and former Raidió na Gaeltachta chairman, Pádraig Mac Donnacha.

Teachers Éilís Ní Conghaile and Feargal Ó Sé will also sit on the board, as will adult education specialist Maeve Ní Garbheigh, Regina Culliton, lecturer in modern Irish in UCD, and Méadhbh Nic an Airchinnigh, Irish language lecturer at UCC.

TG4 first went on air on October 31st, 1996, and last Sunday it became a statutory body, Teilifis na Gaeilge, independent from RTÉ. It has 800,000 viewers a day, with a 3.5 per cent share of the national television market.

Mr Dempsey yesterday said the station was very important for the continued development of the Irish language. "The Government is delighted with the calibre of people who have accepted the appointment to this new board," he said. "I wish them every success in the future."

Labour Party communications spokesman Tommy Broughan welcomed the appointments but said there were still questions to be answered in relation to the long-term funding of the station.

"Minister Dempsey has refused to indicate how he envisages TG4 will be financed in the long term and whether he is seeking extra funding for the station from the Department of Finance," he said.

"The present situation of precarious year-on-year funding for the station is unsatisfactory and must be urgently addressed."