Oireachtas TV has been available online for a number of years and both public service broadcasters RTÉ and
TG4 have carried coverage of each of the Houses of the Oireachtas. RTÉ provides a late night round up with the
Oireachtas Report and at noon
Leaders Questions. TG4 broadcast live Dáil proceedings with their service
Dáil Beo and also provide extensive live coverage of Committee meetings. In November 2007,
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announced in the
Dáil that he favoured an Oireachtas channel stating that "compared with a lot of tripe that is on TV, the Oireachtas channel would be far better and very interesting". Since the statement the government have moved to make Oireachtas TV a reality on the digital terrestrial platform (
Saorview) in Ireland, and have included it in the
Broadcasting Act 2009. Chapter 6 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 sets out the role of the Houses of the Oireachtas Channel. However the Oireachtas Commission have yet to decide when the launch will occur. On 15 November 2011, Oireachtas TV began broadcasting on
UPC Ireland channel 801, initially as part of a trial initiative for a period of six months. The trial service was delivered at no additional cost to the Houses of the Oireachtas or the tax-payer. On 18 September 2012, Oireachtas TV moved to channel 207 following a positive public reaction to the service. It launched on Sky on 17 September 2014. ==Cost==