"The most powerful and pervasive medium of mass communication yet devised. Now that television has added sight to sound, its potentialities are indeed incalculable: already it has altered in many respects the pattern of living in those countries where it has most developed. The television set has even become a modern household god with more power over its devotees than was ever held by ancient idols. If this is so elsewhere today what may not be the power of television here in ten or fifteen years time when there may be a television set in every home?"

Michael Hilliard 1960

"RTE was set up by legislation as an instrument of public policy, and, as such is responsible to the government. The government have overall responsibility for its conduct, and especially the obligation to ensure that its programmes do not offend against the public interest or conflict with national policy as defined in legislation. To this extent the government rejected the view that RTE should be, either generally or in regard to its current affairs programmes, completely independent of government supervision."

Sean Lemass 1966

"Refrain from broadcasting any matter of the following class, i.e. any matter that could be calculated to promote the aims or activities of any organisation which engages in, promotes, encourages or advocates the attaining of any particular objectives by violent means."

1976 Broadcasting Amendment Act (Section 31)

"We have pointed out that in a world about to enter into satellite communications on an almost unimaginable scale, intensity and duration, a thin and 'universally intelligible culture' is a terrible danger. It may level out and destroy all our local values and idiosyncrasies. We hold that the only defence against this international uniformity of spirit is regional diversity - the greatest possible measure of decentralisation and diversification of control and initiative."

Quinn, Doolan & Dowling in Sit Down and Be Counted

"We are no longer in a situation where the State needs to lay down in detail what the public can have in its radio broadcasting services or where unduly elaborate or costly structures need to be established to provide or regulate these services, The task of the State is that of creating the environment which would allow the talent, capability and investment potential in society to gain legitimate entry into the broadcasting sphere, to see how new dynamic broadcasting services emerge and to allow society to benefit from these new services and from the gainful employment and economic activity which they can generate...The new services to a large extent will be self-regulatory. Their sole source of income will be from advertising, which will only be available if they have a substantial audience. Their audience will be their controlling factor."

Ray Burke 1988