Will the new station which the Minister is proposing be obliged to carry a precise proportion, or an overwhelming proportion, of home made programmes in order to preserve this Irish ethos of which he spoke earlier?

That is the intention, that they would carry at least 40 per cent. RTE are doing an excellent job at the moment. In recent years they have increased their percentage of home produced programmes from a very low level to about 45 per cent now. They are continuing their concentration on this and recognise that in the competitive environment in which they will operate in the future they will need to concentrate more and more on the home production. That is what the people want; it is where the advertising is and where the numbers are. It is intended that the independent station will commission programmes and that up to 40 per cent of their transmission time would be used for home produced programmes.