THOUSANDS of television viewers in Mayo and Galway will not now see a return of British television channels to their screens this weekend because of a new legal threat against TV deflect or operators.
The development is likely to catapult the deflector issue back to prominence in western constituencies in the last week of the election campaign, despite moves to defuse the controversy by the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Dukes.
Mr Dukes, who had earlier said that deflector operators could apply for licences later in the year, last week announced the first stage of the licence application process. This encouraged the Mayo deflector operators to plan a resumption of their services this weekend, but this will not now occur.
A spokesman for Balla Community Television Association, Mr Joe Gibbons, said the association was served notice on Wednesday that Cablelink Galway was seeking a permanent injunction to prevent it going back on air. The High Court action is scheduled to take place on June 23rd.
He said the association had intended to resume operations this weekend, two months after it went off air because of an earlier legal threat by Cablelink. But it had sought further legal advice and was not now in a position to resume its transmissions.
Mr Gibbons claimed that the move by Cablelink had been delayed until nominations for the general election closed, effectively preventing a deflector candidate from standing in the constituency.
A spokesman for the Cable Communications Association of Ireland, Mr Ray Doyle, said he rejected any suggestion of "bully boy tactics" by cable companies.
The industry had "tolerated" the activities of illegal deflector operators for years and had received no reward for its patience, he said.
"If anybody has been bullied, this industry has, by politicians."
He said deflector operators were engaged in a cynical ploy of switching their systems on and off in order to increase political pressure in advance of the election. The people they purported to serve had suffered from such tactics, Mr Doyle added.
A spokesman for the Department said that the legal threat from Cablelink would make "no difference" to the licence applications by the deflector groups.
Any legal entity, including the cable companies, was entitled to apply for a licence, providing tax, planning and other requirements were met.
"There is no question that someone who has been shut down by threat of court action would be prevented from applying", the spokesman said.