A two day festival dedicated to Irish language activist Gearóid Ó Cairealláin - who passed away in December 2024 - has heard calls for the BBC to do more to support Irish language journalism.
During a panel discussion in An Chultúrlann on Saturday, Feargus Ó hÍr, former director of West Belfast-headquartered community radio station Raidió Fáilte, slammed BBC Northern Ireland for failing to provide any assistance to the station, which broadcasts programmes in Irish 24-7, 365 days a year.
"The BBC spends more on one hour of TV programming than we get total grant assistance per annum," he told the event which explored the community impact of Irish medium journalism. The former Coláiste Feirste principal also revealed that the BBC locally does not collaborate with Raidió Fáilte even though co-operation with Ofcom-regulated stations across Britain is commonplace.
Added Feargus: "Raidió Fáilte107.1fm has for the last 20 years been providing a full Irish language radio and news service. The station broadcasts 24/7 with two, hour long news and current affairs programs daily on weekdays and regular headline updates as well as a wide range of music, arts, and other programmes.
"While a Memorandum of Understanding exists between the BBC and the UK Community Media Association which encourages the BBC to explore opportunities for collaboration with local radio, BBC NI has not pursued the opportunity of collaboration with Raidió Fáilte107.1fm as a means of boosting Irish language broadcast output.
"The simplest way to boost Irish language broadcasting here is to extend the remit of Raidió Fáilte107.1fm from broadcasting only to Belfast and enable it to to provide an Irish language service to the whole of the north. Government funding should to be made available to properly fund Raidió Fáilte."
ÐÍOSPÓÍREACHT: Panel discussion on Irish language media and community-building at Féile Ghearóid
Among the examples of BBC supporting community stations in Britain, cited by Raidió Fáilte's team, is a collaboration in Bristol between community stations Ujima Radio 98fm – a community station with a particular focus on African and Caribbean communities — and community station Bcfm and the local BBC to share training tools and radio archives to produce a tri-station news broadcast.
Based in state-of-the-art premises at Divis Street, Raidió Fáilte, adds Feargus "has trained broadcasters who are now working around the world" and yet is still starved of resources.
In Scotland, Radio Nan Gaidheal, a BBC radio service in Gaelic, is funded to the tune of £4m annually.
Féile Ghearóid Uí Chairealláín also featured the screening of a documentary by Gearóid O Cairealláin about an Irish speaking singer-publican in New Orleans and a 'fireside chat' with famed Irish novelist and commentator Alan Titley.
