Ireland's first 24-hour news channel goes on air this afternoon with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, providing the first live broadcast.
Ireland Live Television will initially be available on the Internet and digital television, but negotiations are ongoing to provide it on satellite and cable channels as well. Viewers will also be able to receive it on the latest "G3" mobile phones and on hand-held computers with WAP technology.
The Dublin-based channel is targeting an estimated 70 million first and subsequent generation Irish people around the world, chiefly in the US, where broadband communications technology is the the norm and computer screens provide definition close to television quality.
Channel creator Mr Andy Ruane is confident he has a captive audience.
"Fifty per cent of office workers in the United States watched the nine-eleven [September 11th\] attacks unfold on broadband TV news channels on their office computers. That's how it works in the States."
Viewers in Ireland using the Internet will be able to tune in on www.irelandlivetelevision.tv but with broadband still in its infancy here, most will experience a reduced quality reception. What they will see from 2 p.m. today looks suspiciously like another round-the-clock news channel, but Mr Ruane is proud of the similarities.
"We have essentially set up an Irish Sky News. It looks like Sky, it feels like Sky, it has all the production values of Sky," he says.
They even have their own Dan Rather, the veteran CBS anchor. The Ireland Live version is Bob Gallico, the US-born broadcaster who has worked in Irish radio for over 20 years.
He is accompanied in his move to television by FM104 newsreader Cathy Cregan, but others who will share the anchor spot, such as former TV3 presenter Emma Buckley, already have small-screen experience.
The news content is being bought in from INN (Independent Network News), which provides national and international news bulletins to independent local radio stations around the country.
Camera crews will shoot footage to run with the voiceovers, although Mr Ruane also expects to appoint a few dedicated roaming reporters to work directly with his crews.
Each package, comprising news, sport, business, weather and other items, will be repeated with updates every 15 minutes.
Mr Ruane, a former 2FM DJ, is managing director of Like It Love It Productions, which makes independent programmes for RTÉ and TG4.
He has invested some €3 million in the project and says he expects to make a profit very quickly through advertising.
His confidence is unshakeable. "What other Irish medium can offer advertisers a potential market of 70 million?" he asks.