Some of Mayo’s General Election candidates were left frustrated on Wednesday evening after a debate between them, due to be broadcast on RTÉ’s Radio 1 Drivetime show, didn’t make the airwaves.
Due to a failure in the broadband service the debate, which was recorded in a Castlebar restaurant, was never aired.
It was only at the end of the debate that the candidates were told it hadn’t been broadcast but is available now as a podcast on RTÉ’s website.
Dr Jerry Cowley, Labour General Election candidate, has called on RTÉ to broadcast what he described as “the spirited debate” and not just podcast it.
“RTÉ know the inadequacy of the broadband infrastructure in Mayo. A podcast requires a good broadband service to download the file. Asking people with poor broadband speeds to do this suggests to me that RTÉ is out of touch and failing to deliver on its public services remit. It suggests that RTÉ is more local Radio D4 than the national broadcaster. It needs to be rebroadcast at the earliest possible opportunity,” said Dr Cowley.
A disappointed Dr Cowley told the Mayo Advertiser that after the excesses of the Celtic Tiger it is unacceptable that the county town in Mayo would not have a sufficient broadband service to take the signal to the RTÉ studio in Dublin.
What’s more worrying is that Ireland currently ranks 22nd out of 30 in the OECD for broadband service and our 16- to 24-year-olds rank 26 out of 27 in the EU for regular use of the Internet.
According to the Labour candidate the debate in many parts of the world has switched to next generation broadband while in Ireland we are still struggling with first generation broadband.
Dr Cowley added: “Labour's broadband policy for next generation broadband delivery offers the solution to the inadequate and underdeveloped broadband infrastructure in the country.” He added that this policy would include a short-term jobs stimulus and would guarantee more economic growth.
What we should all be moving towards is a “digital lifestyle” according to Dr Cowley where our business, family and social lives would be enhanced by the use of digital media.
