RTÉ deems anthem idea ‘counter-productive’

A county councillor is seeking clarification from RTÉ after the national broadcaster declined a request by the local authority to play the national anthem every night, saying it would be “counter-productive”.

Councillor Tony Mulqueen proposed a motion at a meeting of Clare County Council asking the local authority to request RTÉ “to play the national anthem each night before midnight in the spirit of Irish pride and nationhood.” This was adopted and a letter was sent to RTÉ calling for the change.

 

In a letter to Clare County Council, the head of broadcast compliance, Peter Feeney, said RTÉ would not be playing the anthem as it would be “cumbersome” to do so.

“The practice of playing the national anthem on RTÉ was discontinued when RTÉ extended broadcasting hours beyond midnight on both radio and television. We now operate 24-hour continuous broadcasting on all our channels and therefore the opportunity to play the national anthem no longer exists. As there are no breaks between programmes at fixed times, it would be cumbersome to interrupt programmes each evening to broadcast the national anthem. RTÉ also believes it would be counter-productive as a measure to strengthen the spirit of Irish pride and nationhood as mentioned in the Clare County Council’s resolution,” Mr Feeney stated.

Speaking to The Clare Champion on Wednesday, Mr Feeney went on to say that interrupting programming to play the national anthem would look “tokenistic” and “bizarre”.

Councillor Mulqueen said he could not understand RTÉ’s written response. “I was surprised at this reply. Every 15 minutes we have ads, so at the midnight break for advertising why not play the national anthem then?” he said.

Councillor Mulqueen said RTÉ should play the national anthem, pointing out “this is the national broadcaster who we pay our licence to, it is not a commercial station like TV3, and it gives a sense of identity. We have a moment of reflection in the day at midday and at 6pm when RTÉ shows tourism and farming scenes. This show we are an up-and-coming nation. It was great for tourists who were here to see that too. What is wrong with promoting our country especially since we have the Gathering next year,” he added.

The Ennis man believes that RTÉ are missing an opportunity to promote the country.

“I think it is a missed opportunity to promote the country. I admire America, France and Britain who are very proud of their national anthem. They sing it with pride and we seem to have low self esteem, especially at our national broadcaster. We should be proud of our country,” Councillor Mulqueen added.

The Fine Gael councillor rejected the argument that a move to reinstate the national anthem on RTÉ would be seen as outdated and he said he would be seeking clarification on the letter from the broadcaster.
“I wouldn’t think it is outdated. Is the British anthem or the French anthem out of date? What is wrong with having pride in yourself, your country and your community in a positive way? I am not happy with response from RTÉ, as the national broadcaster, we pay a licence fee and I am not happy with the response. I will be seeking clarification on the meaning of the last sentence where it says ‘it would be counter-productive as a measure to strengthen the spirit of Irish pride and nationhood’.”

Mr Feeney pointed out, “We don’t have any natural junction anymore because we don’t come off air at 11pm. When would you play a national anthem? We don’t have a junction at midnight as many of our programmes continue through. Would you break into a programme with the national anthem, because that would be bizarre. There is no longer a natural place to put it.”

Mr Feeney said the inclusion of the national anthem would look “contrived” and “tokenistic” adding that “traditionally the national anthem signalled the end of broadcasting. It would be very strange because the symbolism of it would be ‘good night, turn off your television now and go to bed’. I don’t think people would see it as patriotic or spirit building, I they they would see it as tokenistic.”