A chairde,
Is breá liom a bheith anseo libh inniu i mBaile na hAbhann mar aoi ag TG4.
Tá lá mór eile tagtha i stair an stáisiúin - agus dul chun cinn eile fós á cheiliúradh againn i saol an chainéil seo a bhfuil oireadh bainte amach aige cheana féin.
Tá TG4 ag dul ó neart go neart. Bhí an deis agam i mbliana méadú suntasach - cheithre mhilliún euro - a dhéanamh ar an maoiniú bliantúil a chuireann mo an Rhialtas ar fáil do TG4. Gheobhaidh an cainéal beagnach tríocha milliún euro ó mo Rhialtas i mbliana agus táim cinnte go mbainfidh sibh leas stuama as.
TG4 continues to grow, it's share of viewing for the first four months of this year was 3.4% compared to the 2005 yearly figure of 3.2%. It’s top programme during this period was live coverage of the Allianz Hurling League Final between Kilkenny and Limerick which had an audience of 223,000 people, a share of almost 30%.
TG4 is now the 8th most popular channel in Ireland compared to 13th when it changed from TnaG in September 1999.
TG4's Children’s/Young People's service in particular is performing exceptionally well. Cúla4 and Síle are proving extremely popular with young children.
This outstanding performance is reflected in prizes and awards for quality programmes awarded to TG4 programmes at prestigious international events.
These include the Celtic Film Festival, the Oireachtas na Gaeilge Media Awards and last week's great European win by Transition Year Students from Rochfordbridge School in the Schools Film Festival in Treviso, Italy.
Approximately, €29m has been allocated to the Broadcasting Funding scheme to date.
The first round of "Sound & Vision" took place in February of this year when the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland allocated €11m to thirty-seven television projects and to forty-five radio initiatives.
Is cinnte gur éirigh go maith le TG4 ina chuid iarratas ar an scéim Fuaim agus Fís ón BCI.
Sílim go bhfuil €6.5m nó mar sin d’airgead an Chiste sin faighte ag TG4 sa gcéad bhabhta coimisiúnaithe ón scéim. Tá tús á chur faoi láthair le léiriú ar dhá cheann de na drámaí nua ag TG4 le cabhair an airgid sin agus guím gach rath ar an obair.
I've just visited the production set of one of those major drama series, Aifric. This very exciting project is a 13 part series of half-hour dramas for the teenage market and is a major undertaking with an overall budget of over €3m. It is being produced for TG4 by Telegael, one of the best known and most acclaimed production and post-production facilities in these islands - an Emmy-award winner in the recent past. The drama will be recorded on a purpose-built set on the sound stage at An Tulach - just over the road here - with a 13 week shoot involving a crew of over 70 people.
Cré na Cille is a new major drama production for TG4 which is also about to go into production, with funding assistance also from the Sound and Vision scheme.
It is, of course, a television adaptation of one of the most celebrated prose works in the Irish language of the past century."
Máirtín Ó Cadhain, who was a native of these parts, wrote a masterpiece that has been acclaimed variously as being a comic masterpiece and/or a very realistic picture of rural life in Connemara about a hundred years ago. The book is celebrated but perhaps is not as widely read as it might be but it is entirely fitting and right that in this year, as we celebrate the centenary of Máirtín Ó Cadhain's birth, that TG4 makes the work more accessible by adapting it for television.
That adaptation must present some production challenges - as the entire story takes place in a graveyard- and in the graves at that!
I'm told that the TV version is being shot on 3 separate locations over three weeks in the Connemara area and has a stellar cast and a crew of 60 and a budget of €1m."
It is being produced by Rosg, a local company but with some notable Meath connections in Ciarán Ó Cofaigh, and is being directed by Robert Quinn one of the most accomplished of the current generation of young directors.
Is deacair a chreidiúint gur gearr go mbeidh TG4 deich mbliana ar an aer – ar Oíche Shamhna seo chugainn.
Tá fás agus forbairt iontach tagtha ar an stáisiún sna deich mbliana sin. Glacann gach duine leis anois go bhfuil éacht déanta agaibh, ní amháin sa tionscal teilifíse agus léiriúcháin ach mar ábhar misnigh agus spreagtha don Ghaeilge freisin.
Éiríonn thar barr libh ar mhórán bealach – tá fás ar bhur lucht féachan agus tá an dream a bhíodh ag gearán agus ag cáineadh anois ina dtost – agus is binn a mbéal ina dtost.
Tá paisean – agus faisean - in bhur saothar. Tá cáil na ceannródaíochta oraibh agus é sin tuillte go maith agaibh – agus thar aon ní eile, b’fhéidir, tá sibh tar éis a mheabhrú dúinn gur leis an náisiún ar fad an teanga – agus gur ábhar bróid agus spraoi í freisin.
Now, as it nears its 10th birthday, it is right and fitting that we look back, but more importantly, that we look forward to the next stage of development for the service.
I know that Pól and his team have plans to mark the 10th Birthday in a fitting and fulsome way and that it will mostly take the form of television programmes, the core business of TG4.
I'm told that TG4 is planning a special 8 day feast of television around the due date, from Sunday 29 October to Sunday 5 November. This will include a retrospective of the past ten years, with a Top 10 (appropriately) in each of the main programme genres, and news, as selected by the audience.
Beidh craoladh speisialta ar bun ó Oireachtas na Gaeilge i nDoire Cholmcille agus deirtear liom freisin go bhfuil dhá chluiche tábhachtach peile len imirt - Cluichí Idirnáisiúnta i bPeil na mBan faoi rialacha Idirnáisiúnta – Éire v An Astráil – beo ar TG4.
Beidh eagráin speisialta ann de Ros na Rún agus de chláracha eile freisin.
As a first step in all of this, you will be pleased to see that An Post have honoured TG4's Tenth Birthday with a special commemorative stamp which has just issued so I hope you will all write to your friends and tell them the good news and use the stamp.
Is é an lá inniu Lá Cholmcille – an naomh-phátrún áitiúil sa pharóiste seo, fear a raibh cáil an léinn agus an chultúir air féin.
Deirtear liom gur tháinig Colmcille an bealach seo agus é ar a bhealach as Árainn - tar éis dó seal a chaitheamh ag foghlaim le Naomh Éanna ansin.
Tá an t-ádh ar TG4 a bheith suite i gceantar chomh hálainn agus chomh naofa seo.
Guím beannachtaí na féile oraibh ar fad agus gach rath ar TG4 san am atá le teacht.
Go raibh maith agaibh.
ENDS