RTÉ’s sizzling summer alternative to sport

RTÉ set out its summer stall yesterday with the promise of hundreds of hours of home-produced programming to balance a hectic diet of World Cup soccer and GAA.

It will be hard to avoid sport completely as the station will be showing 56 matches live over the 25 days of the 2006 World Cup from Germany next month, as well as extensive coverage of the GAA championships, although sadly no live footage from the first ever staging in Ireland of the Ryder Cup in September.

Perhaps, there’s already enough sport in the Rose of Tralee, which will herald the end of the holidays at the end of August.