During BBC ALBA’s 10 year anniversary debate in the Scottish Parliament, SNP MSP Alasdair Allan will call on the BBC to “deliver more for Gaelic broadcasting with better parity of resources between the UK nations.”

BBC ALBA’s BAFTA-winning current affairs programme Eòrpa attracts both Gaelic and non-Gaelic speaking audiences – demonstrating the success the channel has had in delivering for the whole of Scotland, not just the minority language community.

BBC ALBA is a partnership service between the BBC and MG ALBA, which receives core funding of £12.8m from the Scottish Government that is often supplemented with additional funding to reflect the service’s success.

With only 55% of Scottish licence fee funds reinvested in Scotland by the BBC in 2015/16, compared to 95% in Wales and 74% in Northern Ireland, MG ALBA has previously called on the BBC to increase its investment in the Gaelic channel in order to fund 10 hours programming per week, as is the case for S4C in Wales.

Alasdair Allan MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar said:

“BBC ALBA has excelled not only in delivering a fantastic public service to Gaelic speakers in their own language over the last decade – it has also helped raise the profile of the language and culture.

“Historically, television played its part in the demise of the Gaelic language, along with a plethora of other developments like the Education (Scotland) Act 1872. However, in 2018, BBC ALBA and Radio nan Gàidheal are helping to reverse that trend.

“There’s no doubt that the BBC needs to commit considerably more investment to Scottish content overall, and that includes BBC ALBA.

“The SNP will continue to press the BBC to deliver more for Gaelic broadcasting with better parity of resources between the UK nations, and in turn ensure that BBC ALBA’s next ten years will be even more successful than the last.”