The Methodist Church in Ireland has deferred a decision on its involvement with an ad hoc group which hopes to apply for the remaining FM radio licence in Dublin.
Rev Graham Hamilton told the church's annual conference in Belfast at the weekend he had been contacted by Father John Dardis, communications officer of the Dublin archdiocese, about the Methodist Church joining a radio consultation group.
To date, the group includes representatives of the Jesuit, Dominican, Mercy, Vincentian and Divine Word orders, and the Church of Ireland. An invitation had also been sent to the Presbyterian Church, Rev Hamilton said.
The venture would cost the Methodist Church £15,000 at the beginning and £10,000 yearly. "We're talking big money here, but can we afford not to be involved?" he asked.
Dr Osmund Mulligan said the church had to take up "a challenge like this", but he wondered what influence the Methodist Church would have on editorial policy.
Conference secretary Rev Edmund Mawhinney was concerned about unforeseen implications and suggested the issue be referred to the church's general committee. This was agreed.
In a letter to the Methodist Church, Father Dardis said coverage of faith issues by existing radio stations did not meet the needs of the churches.
"Most other European capitals have such stations, run by one, or groups, of Christian churches," he wrote.
The Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) has requested "expressions of interest" in what will be the last Dublin city FM licence by June 23rd. Advertisements will be in the national press by early September.
The hearings will be in December and it is expected the licence will be allocated before Christmas. The new station, broadcasting on 106.8 FM, should be on the air by June 2001.
Father Dardis said the licence would allow broadcasting in the Dublin city area but it was hoped to supplement this by applying for two or three of the recently advertised community radio licences, which would allow the new station to rebroadcast into counties Wicklow and Kildare.
Lansdowne Market Research is conducting a poll of the potential audience for such a station in the Dublin area and to see whether people were willing to make donations towards its running costs.
Father Dardis said the station's weekly audience would be around 100,000, or 10 per cent of the available audience.
Kairos, run by the Divine Word missionaries at Maynooth, has offered studios and office facilities for the station, while the Dublin station 98FM had offered transmission facilities.
Father Dardis said negotiations were to take place with ESAT about sponsoring a microwave link from the studios in Maynooth to 98FM's transmission mast at Three Rock.
Carlow Kilkenny Radio (CKR) and East Coast Radio in Wicklow would also be asked for the use of their masts in Kildare and Wicklow to allow rebroadasting.
The station would have a two-tier structure, with trustees representing the four major Christian denominations and a board of management made up of people with expertise in media, finance, the law, and theology.
Start-up costs were expected to be about £200,000, which would be raised from contributions, patrons, the trustee churches and sponsors, Father Dardis said.
Initially, depending on finance, Father Dardis anticipated the station would broadcast between four and eight hours daily, including on Internet radio.
Programming content would reflect four core values: prayer and worship; news; discussion and debate on theological questions; and the Christian perspective on contemporary social issues.
As this would be the last FM waveband available in the Dublin area, Father Dardis argued it would be the last chance for the churches to provide such a service.
He also referred to "the symbolic importance" of the four main Christian churches being involved in such a venture together.
He said there was a need for all churches to be more proactive where promotion of the faith in an increasingly secular society was concerned.