S·il Eile. What does it mean in English? Another eye. Another perspective. It's also the motto for TG4, the Irish-language television station based in Connemara, Co Galway, that has just celebrated its fifth anniversary.

It's an appropriate motto given that, with the exception of the Irish Examiner newspaper in Cork, TG4 is the only national media outlet that is based outside Dublin.

Pβdhraic ╙ Ciardha, leascheannasa∅ (deputy director) of TG4, says that the station tries hard to reflect an alternative view of Ireland. "If our Nuacht (news) was covering a farming story, it would be more likely to speak to a farmer than a farm union leader. If it was covering an education story, it would be more likely to talk to a teacher than to a teachers' union leader."

╙ Ciardha hastens to add that there is nothing wrong with interviewing union leaders to get the big picture, but TG4's approach is to focus on what is happening at the grassroots of Irish life.

TG4 first came on air in 1996, on the night of Samhain. But far from being a nightmare, that night was a dream come true for the Irish-speaking communities in the Gaeltacht as well as other native speakers throughout the State. It was thanks to their strong campaign and the enthusiastic support of the then Minister for Arts and Culture, Michael D Higgins, that Teilif∅s na Gaeilge was established. (The station changed its name from TnaG to TG4 in 1999.)

There were many who spoke out against its establishment and who still believe that the demand for Irish language programmes could be catered for from within RT╔. However, five years on, it appears that there are few people willing publicly to question the existence of the station.

One of those few voices is Irish Times journalist and author Kevin Myers.

Myers says that the millions of pounds of taxpayers' money is being wasted on a service aimed at promoting a language that he says no one wants to learn. The State now funds three national public service TV channels, he says, which is far too many. Britain, in contrast, only has two. "Because promoting the Irish language is seen as a good cause, they throw money at it," Myers says.

However, such a dissenting view seems rare today. TG4 has been winning awards and praise for the content of its service.

"It is interesting to see, in mainstream English-language media, constant comments about things that are on TG4 and that it is now accepted as part of the mainstream media," says Ciarβn ╙ Feinneadha, who was formerly the spokesman for the original campaign to establish an Irish-language TV service, Feachtas Nβisi·nta Teilif∅se.

One of the main criticisms of TG4 is that despite being known as the national Irish-language television station, only five or six hours of its 17-hour daily schedule contains locally commissioned and produced programmes in Irish. Many would argue that this calls into question its status as an Irish-language station.

"I think that's a little unfair," says ╙ Ciardha. He explains that in order to produce a high-quality national TV service in Irish, there is only enough funding to produce two hours of independently-commissioned programming a day. This includes around £16 million a year from the State and the one hour a day of programming that RT╔ is obliged to give the station. He says the station manages to stretch these resources to five or six hours a day, leaving it to find more money over and above State funding to fill the rest of the schedule.

"In an ideal world, we'd love to have enough resources to put out 20 hours of Irish-language programmes, but the fact is we don't have that and the fact that we are competing for an audience which is at best bilingual, and which is predominantly English-speaking. So what we've tried to do is to provide an innovative schedule that will attract the largest audiences towards our Irish-language programmes and utilise additional programming to bring that about."

TG4 now claims a national audience share of 3 per cent. While this might seem very small, the figure has tripled in the last three years. Its reach, which means the number of people who tune into the channel for more than a minute a day, is 700,000, or one in five of the population.

The station gaining a strong reputation for its coverage of sport, particularly Gaelic games and rugby. Last September, TG4 achieved its highest-ever audience share - of 20 per cent - with the broadcast of the All-Ireland women's football final.

╙ Ciardha says that getting these kinds of viewing figures is a considerable achievement, particularly as the television environment has become so much more competitive in the five years since the station came on air. In those five years, TV3 and Sky Digital have established themselves, while UTVhas been attracting more viewers from the Republic to its service.

As well as sport, the station is gaining a strong reputation for its traditional music, drama and children's programmes. Indeed, it was the lack of children's programmes in Irish that led to the starting up of the Feachtas Nβisi·nta Teilif∅se.

"When my eldest daughter was three years of age, there was no continuous broadcast of Irish-language programmes for children of her age," said ╙ Feinneadha. Hi·da∅, the popular TG4 cartoon character, recently won the Irish TV personality of the year award.

Also very popular is the twice-weekly soap opera, Ros Na R·n. "It represents the biggest drama commission ever given to the independent sector," says ╙ Ciardha.

Indeed, like Channel 4 in Britain, TG4 does very little programme production in-house and farms all commissions out to the independent production sector at a cost of £11 million. However, he says that the station would like to get more into in-house production.

Although its broadcast signal can be received by most homes in the State, the Belfast Agreement contains a commitment to ensure that TG4's signal will be boosted or cabled into homes in Northern Ireland.

However, NTL has not seen fit to include TG4 in its basic digital package for Northern Ireland customers, says ╙ Ciardha.