The President, Mrs McAleese, marked the 30th anniversary of Raidio na Gaeltachta yesterday when she visited its headquarters at Casla in Connemara.
The radio station, which employs 70 people, including contract and part-time workers, is facing an uncertain future due to financial cutbacks.
RTÉ has been seeking savings of almost €470,000, amounting to about 10 per cent of the station's annual budget.
Several programmes have already been cancelled, including An Pobal Aduadh, the only programme originating in Northern Ireland, and staff have already met several politicians in a bid to reverse the decision.
Union representatives from the NUJ and SIPTU are due to meet the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, in Dublin today.
Raidio na Gaeltachta began broadcasting on Easter Sunday, April 2nd, in 1972. Initially it was restricted to several hours each day, and coverage was limited to certain Gaeltacht areas.
It has now developed into a 24-hour service, with a wide range of news and current-affairs programmes, magazines, music, sport and discussion programmes, and it is also available on the Internet.
The station has an average listenership of 150,000, and an MRBI survey conducted in April of last year indicated that the weekly audience in its core Gaeltacht region had increased by almost 10 per cent.
It recently established links to smaller Gaeltacht communities in Rath Cairn, Co Meath, Paróiste na Dromad in south Kerry and An Rinn in Co Waterford through the use of ISDN lines.
The President began her visit to Galway yesterday in several schools,including Scoil Íde, and St Nicholas's Parochial School, which marks its 75th anniversary this year.
Last night, the President addressed university staff and students at the Political Discussion Society in NUI, Galway.
Mrs McAleese is due to visit Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, today, which was officially transferred from the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood to the Western Health Board earlier this week.
