The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands is to meet the RTE Authority today to discuss the station's involvement in the new digital television network.

Ms de Valera told the Dail yesterday that no fundamental change in policy had been proposed to the Government on the issue. However, certain difficulties had arisen in the structuring of the transaction, and she would be consulting her Cabinet colleagues before bringing the matter to Government for decision.

She was replying to the Fine Gael spokesman on arts, heritage, Gaeltacht and the islands, Mr Enda Kenny, who said the Minister should explain what was going on. The Broadcasting Bill had been published in May of last year, public statements were made, and it was discussed at second stage, during Question Time and when dealing with the estimates.

"It was stated that RTE would have a 40 per cent shareholding in Digico, the company which will operate the new digital terrestrial television network. On the steps of the aeroplane to Los Angeles, the Minister shone light on the matter, and she made a statement, which she clarified later, that a newspaper report was 70 per cent true.

"Why has the Select Committee on Heritage and the Irish Language spent months dealing with this Bill under the false assumption that the national broadcaster would have a 40 per cent share in Digico?"

Ms de Valera said that, on leaving for Los Angeles, she had said that certain difficulties regarding RTE's involvement in the digital infrastructure had arisen during the discussions, particularly those relating to the project management group. She had said she was examining those issues and she would make a statement after she had done so and had also consulted her Cabinet colleagues.

She had neither confirmed nor denied the statements made in some of the daily newspapers, she added.

"I wish to take this opportunity to categorically state that on July 22nd, 1998, the Government decided that arrangements would be made for the introduction of digital terrestrial television and the separation of the existing transmission function from RTE.

"The subsequent entity, in which RTE would retain a stake, would be mandated to construct and operate the DTT infrastructure and promote the development of multi-media services and the information society."

The decision, said Ms de Valera, also provided that the manner of the sale, the selection of the purchaser and the criteria for such would be decided by the project management group, which was headed by her Department and also included the Departments of Finance, Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Public Enterprise and RTE.

In parallel with the publication of the Broadcasting Bill, and its completion of second stage, the project management group had begun separating the transmission network from RTE and selecting the investor in the digital transmission entity envisaged by the Government decision, she said.