A new Irish TV channel should be available by Saint Patrick’s Day 2009 according to the Irish communications minister who made an announcement on Saint Patrick’s Day. Diaspora TV will be an RTÉ channel available on the new Freesat service in the UK.

In recent comments from Eamon Ryan, the minister spoke about time-frames and the need for the service:

The 2001 Census in Britain records a figure of 850,000 Irish born people living in Britain. There are many more of direct Irish descent. I know that many of these people have been looking for an RTÉ channel in the UK for some time. This new channel will be up and running by next St Patrick’s Day [and] will provide the Irish abroad with a valuable link to home.

The new service will be a hybrid of RTÉ One and RTÉ Two with additional programming from TG4. It will carry the One, Six-One and 9 o’clock news bulletins live and will aim to provide “home-grown Irish programming that will be of real interest to Irish communities abroad”.

Mr Ryan went on to say that

I will be working closely with Minister Dermot Ahern to ensure that vulnerable groups in the UK will be supported in receiving the service

Diaspora TV will be the first service for the Irish community in Britain since Tara TV closed back in 2002 for financial reasons.

Freesat is a new free-to-air satellite service that will be available throughout the UK and across the Astra satellite footprint, covering Ireland and some other parts of Europe.  It is led by the BBC and ITV.  Further information is available at www.freesat.co.uk

The service will also be available to users of the Sky Satellite System on a Free to Air basis.

This sunday marks the fifth annual Crawley Saint Patrick’s Parade and everyone is invited! After the parade, free entertainment in Queen’s Square which includes music and Irish dancing demonstrations. The parade starts at 1pm from Crawley Bus Station and concludes at Queen’s Square.

There has been some freak weather warnings from our friends at the Met Office so please remember, one and all, to bring appropriate clothing with you.

It’s also an exciting weekend otherwise as we approach Saint Patrick’s Day on Monday 17th March.

There’s live rugby on the box, or if you are lucky enough to get to Twickenham it would be much closer; lots of events in venues throughout the town and, on Saint Patrick’s Day itself, the GAA club championships at Croke Park. If Croke Park is too far to travel, it’s also live on Setanta.

Have a great weekend and the CICS invite you all to come down to celebrate your roots with the Irish in Crawley.

More information at http://www.celtic-irish.co.uk/stpats

The 2008 Crawley Saint Patrick’s Parade takes place on Sunday 16 March 2008 from 12:30pm in Crawley Town centre. 

The Parade starts at 1pm prompt from Crawley Bus Station and takes a route down Haslett Avenue West then right into the one way system onto Station Road past Crawley Train Station. The parade travels past the south-side of the Mall and turns left onto Southgate Avenue/College Road. The parade turns at the Crawley College roundabout onto the Boulevard. The parade then takes a left onto The Broadway where pedestrians will enter Queens Square.

Live Music and Irish Dancing follows at the Bandstand, Queen’s Square

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Time: Contact - Entry: By Invitation ONLY

This year, our thank you party takes place on 1 March 2008.

The party is an annual thank you to our volunteers, sponsors and officials that make all the work possible.

If you haven’t received your invite yet, just give us a bell.

Please Note:

The Crawley Irish Dinner Dance originally planned for Saturday 1st March is to be rescheduled.