asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will state the additional average operational cost per hour incurred by Radio Éireann when broadcasting different programmes simultaneously on the Dublin and Cork wavelengths.

Separate simultaneous transmissions are not made on the Dublin and Cork wavelengths but on the Athlone wavelength on the one hand and on Dublin and Cork combined on the other. No extra engineering cost is involved in the separate transmissions but some comparatively small programme costs are incurred on occasions. The precise figures are not available as these separate transmissions do not take place regularly.