National Co-ordinator:

Mr Michael Lally
RTE Hynes Building
19-29 St Augustine Street
Galway Ireland
Fax: 00353 91 505005
Tel: 0035391 505057
mobile: 00 353 87 2549208
E-mail: michael.lally@rte.ie

Headquarters:
RTÉ
Donnybrook
Dublin 4
Tel: +353 1 208 3111
Fax: +353 1 208 3080

CR contact person: MICHAEL LALLY, e-mail: michael.lally@rte.ie

For a list of regional and overseas contacts please click here: RTE REGIONS (pdf format)

Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ)

Ireland 's Public Service Broadcaster provides a comprehensive broadcasting service to the Irish Public on radio since 1926 and t elevision since 1961. Also provides associated services through its publishing, performing groups and transmission network divisions.

• RTÉ Television consists of two channels, RTÉ One and RTÉ Two.
• RTÉ News and Current Affairs provides the public with daily news and current affairs services via RTÉ Radio, RTÉ Television and on-line via www.rte.ie .
• RTÉ Radio consists of four stations, RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ lyric fm and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.

Under the terms of the Broadcasting Act 1960 and subsequent legislation, RTÉ is subject to a nine member Government-appointed Authority. The Authority acts as RTÉ's Board, making policy and guiding corporate direction. The RTÉ Executive Board is responsible for the day-to-day running of RTÉ and is chaired by RTÉ's Director-General. RTÉ employs some 2,000 people .

RTÉ, a not-for-profit organisation, currently derives approximately 50% of its revenue from licence fees and approximately 50% from commercial income. Since 1 April 2005 the annual television licence fee is €155.

There are approximately 3.9 million inhabitants in the Republic of Ireland and 1.3millon have TV sets. RTÉ Television provides a wide-ranging service, with RTÉ One and RTÉ Two as complimentary channels, which in 2004 were viewed by 55% of Irish people on an average day. The prime time adult audience share against other Irish terrestrial, UK and satellite channels is 44%. RTÉ television averages 336 hours per week with 24% of programmes being RTÉ's own television production.

RTÉ has a nation-wide communications network with an increasing emphasis on regional input and news gathering. It has regional centres providing news and programme material for television and radio. There is a permanent correspondent based in each of the regional centres with live studio, DVCPro crews and editing.

There are regional offices in:

•  Dundalk (North-East)
•  Waterford (South-East)
•  Cork (South)
•  Limerick (Mid West)
•  Galway (West)
•  Sligo (North-East)
•  Athlone (Midlands and North Leinster ).

RTÉ also operates overseas from London , Brussels and Washington

For a list of regional and overseas contacts please click here: RTE REGIONS (pdf format)

RTÉ also maintains an extensive operation based in RTÉ Belfast covering events in Northern Ireland . The Belfast office consists of a team of journalists with DVCPro crews, editing, and technical staff with a live studio permanently linked to RTÉ Dublin. There are also radio studios at various locations around the country.

RTÉ' s Cork Studio continues to develop as a major regional programme production centre and produces the regional news magazine programme Nationwide as one of its flagship programmes.

Regional news is integrated into RTÉ's national evening news programmes.

RTÉ Television competes with a national commercial channel and several English-speaking television services. Most of the country receives the four United Kingdom networks and a wide range of television channels is available on satellite. Distribution of Irish, United Kingdom and satellite television is available on cable in major urban centres and suburban areas .

RTÉ Radio's four stations cover national and regional news. RTÉ Radio One produces comprehensive coverage of news, current affairs, music, drama and variety, features, agriculture, education, religion and sport. RTÉ 2fm is a popular music and chat radio station, also based in Dublin . RTÉ lyric fm caters specifically for arts and music and is located in Limerick city. RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, based in Co. Galway, is the dedicated Irish language channel. RTÉ Radio competes with local radio stations in many areas.

As well as providing a broadcasting service, RTÉ also produces: the RTÉ Guide - the country's best-selling entertainment magazine; the RTÉ website; and Aertel - RTÉ's teletext service.

RTÉ is a major contributor to the arts in Ireland , and the RTÉ Performing Groups Division supports five performing groups.

The RTÉ transmission network, RTÉNL, is a wholly owned subsidiary and operates the nation-wide transmission network.

Updated: August 2005

Name of the station: TG4
Address: Baile na hAbhann, Co. na Gaillimhe.
Tel.: +353 91 505050
Fax: +353 91 505021
General Manager: Pól O’Gallchoir
Commissioning Editors: Michéal Ó Meallaigh, Proinsias Ní Ghráinne, Máire Ní Chonláin. Sport: Rónán Ó Coisdealbha. Administration: Mary Ellen Ní Chualáin.

TG4 is a national television channel which began broadcasting on 31 October 1996. Over 800,000 viewers tune into the channel each day. The daily Irish language programme schedule is its core service: over seven hours of innovative quality programming in Irish supported by a wide range of material in other languages.

TG4 invests over €15m annually in original Irish language programming from the independent production sector in Ireland. This investment supports 340 posts in small private sector companies throughout the island.

The channel provides a daily programme schedule in Irish for children and young people. This represents an attractive and entertaining daily point of contact with Irish in a context that is totally different to school.

The channel's signal covers Ireland. It is receivable directly by aerial in the Republic, to satellite Sky Digital customers throughout Ireland, on cable and MMDS in the Republic or worldwide via webcast . TG4 also transmits on analogue terrestrial from Divis for the Belfast area.

TG4 is a publisher/broadcaster. The station sources its programmes from independent production companies as well as from RTÉ, the national broadcaster for Ireland. It also broadcasts a range of other programmes in English including live coverage of Dáil Éireann, the national parliament.