A brand new Irish language children’s television channel has been launched.
History was made on Friday, September 8 as the first ever dedicated Irish language children’s channel, Cúla4, aired on our screens.
Cúla4 will air for 14 hours daily, from 6am until 8pm everyday. Saorview - Channel 18, Channel 602 on Virgin Media, Sky 624 and Eir will all carry the young people’s channel.
The channel will also be supported online via the player which is available at cula4.com and also the Cúla4 App.
The new channel, aimed at 0-12 year olds, will be jam-packed with entertainment, drama, a children’s news service, a mix of home produced content and acquired shows, as well being a valuable source of educational Irish language content.
Cúla4 is a free to air channel that will provide an entertaining and fun daily point of contact to the Irish language for children. The channel will include newly commissioned content from the Independent production sector in Ireland, as well as acquired international animation, which are revoiced to Irish by the independent sector.
The groundbreaking channel will be anchored by presenters Seosamh Mac Seoin who will be wrapping the morning slot from 6am, Síle Ní Chonghaile will present the educational zone from 9am and Niamh Ní Chróinín has a fun packed slot in the afternoons from 3pm for the older age groups.
There will be a six-minute news service from Tuesday to Friday at 1.30pm, produced by Fíbín Media and hosted by Aisling Ní Dhonnabháin and Seán Ó Maoilchiaráin.
Schools will even be able to tune in from their classrooms and keep up to date with the news of the day.
Cúla4 will also provide support content for classrooms as well as for at-home viewing since TG4 content has proven to be a popular and important Irish language resource for primary schools nationwide.
Independent research, carried out by RED C, shows that 44% of primary school teachers, 80% of teachers in Irish-speaking primary schools and 250,000 primary school children throughout Ireland, regularly use the TG4 or Cúla4 Player in the classroom.
This dedicated Cúla4 channel will enable TG4 to provide even more, interactive educational content with clear ties to the curriculum, which makes learning fun.
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin was invited to the TG4 headquarters in Co. Galway to carry the official launch of the new TV channel.
Catherine stated that, “this Government has demonstrated the importance it places on making the Irish language a living language. The increase in funding and support I have provided to TG4 to ensure increased Irish language content is available, is a clear signal of the important role that public service media can play in this regard”.
“As Minister for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht, I am particularly pleased to be here today to launch Cúla 4, a dedicated Irish language children’s channel that will embed and normalise the daily use of Irish for the next generation”.
“Young people need to be able to visualise themselves achieving great things in all walks of life, and Cúla4 allows young people with Irish to see themselves represented on screen”.
Karina Feirtéar, who is the Channel Manager of Cúla4, added that “it’s an historic day for TG4 and the Irish language. The new Cúla4 channel ensures that irish language content is more accessible for our younger audiences, and will hopefully strengthen their engagement with it, as they are the future generation”.
“We developed a space for our audience to enjoy entertaining content when they like, and will continue to make sure that we represent our diverse audience as best we can by showcasing lives in Ireland today, through a fun and colourful experience- while immersing them in a living language, in the hope that they learn new things about the world around them through a medium they are used to”.
A national survey carried out by Ipsos MRBI last year showed clear support and demand for the Cúla4 channel. 89% of respondents agree or strongly agree that it is important for our society that a children’s channel is available in the Irish language on a free-to-air basis.
Have a peek at some of the brilliant programmes available on Cúla4 below:
Anfa is an action-oriented and high-energy game show based on the weather. Anfa is produced By Fíbín Media.
Uiscenauts is a fun all action water-based game show produced by Abú Media
Nuacht Cúla4 - News programme for young people covering local, national and international news. Fíbín Media
M’Ainm Mo Scéal is a children’s series about the meaning and the stories associated with given names. Ronin Films Ltd..
Teach Spraoi - Every week, a different group of children have two days to design and build their choice of playhouse. Macalla
Uisce Uisce -A new series for children who love water activities – be it sailing or zorbing their excitement is contagious. Paper Owl Films Ltd.
