RTÉ will be providing the most extensive, comprehensive and immediate live coverage of all the count and results events of Election 2007 to a national and worldwide audience via Television, Radio, Internet and Aertel.
RTÉ Television election coverage
For Election 2007, RTÉ will have more Outside Broadcast and Satellite units delivering pictures from around the country than for any other previous Election programme.
Election 2007 on RTÉ One starts on Friday, 25th May at 11am with comprehensive live coverage of results from count centres across the country with analysis, reaction and comment from experts and guests in studio. It will be presented by John Bowman, Bryan Dobson, Mark Little and Miriam O’Callaghan.
The RTÉ Results Centre will be on the campus in Donnybrook in Dublin where, count by count, election results will be received and processed into the Election computer system. This will provide results to all RTÉ areas, including Radio, Online, News, Nuacht RTÉ for TG4, Aertel and Television in order to give national and international audiences the most immediate, comprehensive coverage possible.
More than 400 people will be working on the Election 2007 results programmes for RTÉ Television alone.
On Friday, 25th May, Election 2007 programming continues until the RTÉ News at 1pm. Normal programming resumes until 2.20pm when Election 2007 returns with breaks for News programmes until 2.30am on Saturday 26th May.
On Saturday, 26th May, Election 2007 returns to RTÉ One at 11am until 3pm with a break for News at 1pm.
All RTÉ Election 2007 Television programming is subtitled.
RTÉ Radio election coverage
From early morning on Friday 25th May RTÉ Radio 1 will provide non-stop coverage of the Election 2007 count, with the first updates and live reports from count centres around the country.
From 10am Today with Pat Kenny will broadcast coverage of the early tallies, RTÉ Radio’s reporters will be talking to tallymen around the country and getting reaction on the ground.
From 12pm Séan O’Rourke and Racheal English will take over with RTÉ Radio 1’s special election programme, Election 2007. RTÉ Radio 1’s experienced reporters will provide comprehensive coverage from all 43 constituencies. In studio, RTÉ Radio 1’s Election 2007 will have ‘number crunchers’ ready to analyse the figures as they come in on RTÉ’s computer network. Presenters will also be joined by politicians, journalists and party members with all the drama of the winners and the losers. RTÉ Radio 1’s Election 2007 will run around the clock until the counting stops in the early hours of the morning and will be back on air again the next morning at 10am, when the counting resumes, to broadcast the final results and tease out the implications of the emerging picture.
On Saturday morning a special edition of Morning Ireland will start at 8am and will reflect on the results so far in Election 2007.
The Election 2007 programme with Sean O’Rourke and Rachael English returns at 10am until 1pm.
At 1pm Saturday View, presented by Rodney Rice, and at 1pm on Sunday This Week presented by Gerald Barry and Gavin Jennings will discuss the formation of the 30th Dáil.
On Friday 25th May RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s award winning Lá an Chomhairimh programme, presented by Máirín Ní Ghadhra, will have reporters in every count centre in the country with up to the minute reports all day from early morning until the final seat is filled and on Saturday 26 May Máirín will present a special follow-up Lá an Chomhairimh from 11am until 2pm.
RTÉ lyric fm and RTÉ 2fm will also have updates on all of the election action and count results.
NUACHT RTÉ election coverage
Nuacht RTÉ’s coverage of the election count on TG4 will see some fifteen hours of live output over two days covering all 43 constituencies.
Cathal Mac Coille will be the anchor for Vóta 2007 from 2pm on Friday 25th May and will be joined by a team of reporters based in each of the constituencies and a panel of commentators in studio and around the country.
Live inserts from across the country will give viewers of Vóta 2007 a flavour of the tension, excitement, jubilation and disappointment as nearly five hundred candidates find out what their political future holds
Nuacht RTÉ will also be providing election count coverage in its regular bulletins on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th on RTÉ One.
RTE.ie election coverage
RTÉ.ie, Ireland’s leading media website, will provide extensive coverage of the Irish general election to a worldwide audience on its specially-designed election site RTÉ.ie/election.
The site has covered all the crucial election issues and events of interest to the Irish at home, those living abroad and all those interested in Irish affairs. It offers a choice of features for both seasoned election enthusiasts and novices including:
• The Hub: an audio/video/picture index with up-to-the-minute highlights from RTÉ television and radio programmes
• The Insider, a comprehensive blog incorporating up-to-the-minute contributions from RTÉ’s extensive team of correspondents and journalists in the field and behind the scenes
• A First-time Voter’s Guide, an engaging and interactive section for young and ‘New Irish’ voters or anyone who needs a refresher course
• A Punter’s Guide to….simple summaries of Ireland’s more complicated voting methods including Proportional Representation and the Money Game.
Starting on Count Day (Friday25th May) there will be round the clock coverage from the constituencies starting with the latest news from the tallymen at the centres, allowing users around the world to keep in touch with the excitement of the day. Results from all 43 constituencies will be available on both RTÉ.ie and RTÉ Aertel immediately they are announced at the centres.
There will also be additional audio and video content from around the country in The Hub, along with exclusive in-depth analysis and discussion from RTÉ’s team of correspondents and journalists.
All RTÉ Television and radio election programmes will be available live via the web for users around the world. Eircom.net users will also be able to watch a live stream of RTÉ’s television coverage.
Date: 11 May 2007
Further info:
News and Current Affairs: Carolyn Fisher, Senior Press Officer, T: 01 208 3996 / 087 285 6878 E: carolyn.fisher@rte.ie
Radio: Sarah Martin, Senior Press Officer, T: 01 208 2312 / 087 750 1850
Publishing: Jennifer Schutz T: 01 208 4843