Stair RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta

Leagan Gaeilge

RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta's mandate is to provide a national Irish language radio service as part of RTÉ's public broadcasting service.

The station was first established to provide a comprehensive radio service for the people of the Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking region) and for Irish speakers nationwide and began broadcasting at 3pm on Easter Sunday, 2 April 1972. RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2002.

During the early years, broadcasting was restricted to a couple of hours a day and that limited service could only be received in Gaeltacht areas. Transmission facilities and programming were gradually developed and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta is now available worldwide on the web.

Since 1st October 2001, the station broadcasts 24 hours a day, with a wide range of news and current affairs, magazine programmes, music, sport, discussion and entertainment.

An MRBI poll taken in April 2001 shows that in overall terms, the high quality programming, excellent news service, local coverage, music programmes and non-Dublin focus are the dominant reasons for tuning into RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. Another significant finding of the 2001 survey is that the station's average weekday audience in its core Gaeltacht region has increased by almost 10 per cent. "These are exciting times for RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, for both our radio broadcasting and our simultaneous internet livestream" says Tomás Mac Con Iomaire, Ceannaire Raidió na Gaeltachta.

RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta's livestream was launched in May 2000. Since then the station has been getting feedback on a regular basis from listeners in North America, Australia, UK, Europe, Moscow and Estonia.

Since Tuesday, April 23rd 2003, all four RTÉ radio services are carried live on the Sky Digital Platform. That means subscribers to Sky Digital TV can hear the output of RTÉ Radio 1, 2fm, Lyric fm and Raidió na Gaeltachta, live and 24 hours a day.

RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta can be heard on Channel 916 in the Music & Radio Category on the Sky TV Guide Index.

Much has been achieved in the station's first 30 or so years -

• journalists report from events and locations worldwide
• staff members have won numerous awards for broadcasting excellence, including Jacobs' Awards, awards at Celtic Film & Television Festival, Oireachtas prizes.
• CDs have been compiled and produced
• Lecture series commissioned
• An Ródaí, Raidió na Gaeltachta's mobile outside broadcast studio

The station has studios and staff in Baile na nGall, (West Kerry), Doirí Beaga (Donegal), Dublin (RTÉ) and Castlebar, Co. Mayo as well as its headquarters in Casla, Connemara. Recent developments include the establishment of links via ISDN lines to the smaller Gaeltacht communities of Ráth Cairn, Co. Meath, Paróiste na Dromad in South Kerry and An Rinn, Co. Waterford. Regular use is also made of RTÉ studios in Galway, Limerick, Belfast, Sligo, Waterford, and Derry.

RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta employs upwards of 80 people, including staff members, contract employees and part-time workers, most of whom are based at the station's headquarters in Casla. Irish is the working and broadcasting language of the service.