Guth Gafa Documentary Festival 2008

The Future of Irish Language Television Broadcasting

This seminar will discuss the long and short-term future of Irish language television broadcasting on an all-Ireland basis. Our invited panel includes Pól Ó Gallchóir, the Chief Executive of TG4; Áine Walsh, the newly appointed head of the Irish Language Broadcast Fund in the north of Ireland;Íte Ní Chionnaith, an Irish language activist, and lecturer in the School of Media at the Dublin Institute of Technology; and Pilib Mac Cathmhaoil, a Belfast based producer with Tobar Productions.

Íte Ní Chionnaith is a senior lecturer in Irish in the School of Media DIT. She is particularly interested in all aspects of Irish language journalism and media. She was very involved in the campaign for Teilifís na Gaeilge and spent a week in Mountjoy womens' prison, in 1977, for refusing to pay her television licence as part of the Conradh na Gaeilge campaign for more Irish language programmes on RTÉ and the establishment of Teilifís na Gaeilge. She was Uachtarán Chonradh na Gaeilge from 1985-1989, the first female Uachtarán of the organisation. Íte regularly participates in radio and TV programmes, particularly in Irish, as a commentator on current, political and Irish language affairs.

From the Mayo Gaeltacht, Áine has worked and lived in Belfast for the past nine years. She has worked within the broadcast industry, both television and radio for 10 years, including periods as a radio and TV producer in the Irish Language Unit of the BBC, and she spent over six years as a producer of entertainment, documentary and current affairs programmes with UTV. Áine was appointed to her current position in November 2007. Áine Walsh, Ceannasaí an Chiste Craoltóireachta Gaeilge.

The ILBF arose out of a commitment in the Belfast Agreement in 1998. The ILBF has two core aims - to foster the Irish language independent production sector in Northern Ireland and to fund high quality Irish language television programmes. Since it received state aid approval from the European Commission in June 2005, it has funded around 200 hours of television. Its output has been broadcast on TG4, BBC Northern Ireland and RTÉ. The Fund consists of £12 million awarded over a 4-year period through the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL). No allocation has been made to fund the ILBF beyond March 2009.

Philip Campbell has been a part-time actor and radio presenter for many years. In a full-time capacity, he spent over 10 years developing Irish language projects for a number of organisations including Newry and Mourne District Council, Forbairt Feirste and the Cultúrlann. He organised a campaign to ensure the creation of an Irish Language Television Fund before forming his own television production company in 2003. Tobar Productions has produced a number of very well received entertainment series, documentaries, and children's series for TG4, and the company has been nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award two years in a row.