More people watch Teilifis na Gaeilge than other minority-interest channels including Sky News, Eurosport and MTV, according to the head of TnaG, Mr Cathal Goan.
Speaking at the launch of TnaG's autumn schedule in Spiddal, Co Galway, Mr Goan said the Irish-language station has achieved an average daily reach of 7 per cent of the Irish television audience, or 220,000 viewers. Its share of the national peak-time audience is "over 1 per cent". Its most popular programmes included news and the daily soap-opera, Ros na Run, he said.
The new schedule includes a number of re-broadcasts of English-language programmes. These include independent productions such as the Waterways series; Candid Camera from Emdee Productions, and the GAA archive programme, All-Ireland Gold.
Mr Goan pointed out that these broadcasts - which take place mostly during the afternoon - lay outside TnaG's core Irish-language schedule. The independent productions had been acquired at "a very uncompetitive rate" and were not paid for out of TnaG's state subvention.
Other minority-language broadcasters frequently broadcast material in different languages when their core language broadcasts were off air, he said. TnaG recognised that its limited resources did not allow it to broadcast a full schedule in Irish, and it would continue to seek additional funding to expand its core Irish-language programming.
About 70 per cent of television sets in the State are now tuned to TnaG, according to Mr Goan. He said RTE's efforts to broaden TnaG's reach would include the commissioning of 28 local transposers during 1997, in areas where the service is not yet available.
The percentage of the population in Northern Ireland who receive TnaG broadcasts would rise from 30 per cent to 60 per cent by the end of the year. This would happen as a result of improvements to transmitters broadcasting into Northern Ireland from the Republic.
Mr Goan said the station would continue to emphasise inclusiveness and accessibility in its schedule. "We want our programmes to be accessible to the national audience, and we are doing this through the innovative use of English-language subtitles on screen and on tele-text," he said.
The autumn schedule contains a broad mix of programming, including news, sport, drama, music, travel, soap operas, documentaries and current affairs.
The emphasis on young people's programming, a feature of the station since it began broadcasting 10 months ago, continues with Culabula, a daily mixture of phone-ins, competitions and other items.
The 90-minute programme will be "presented" by Hiudai, the animated troll, whose interactive game show on TnaG has evoked a strong audience response.
Ros na Run will henceforth be broadcast in two half-hour segments on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with an omnibus edition on Saturday.
The successful Ole Ole sports programme will be expanded to include soccer from the Scottish Premier League.