The Irish Times and RTÉ work together to create a news service that converts text to speech.
The news service from RTÉ and The Irish Times is initially being created for the blind and visually impaired
After being printed, the pages of The Times, sport, news, letters to the editor and financial columns, are then electronically converted into computer language.
The electronic text is relayed by telephone line from The Irish Times to RTÉ and transmitted by a television signal throughout the country.
For the first time, blind people can read all about it through a decoder which changes the computerised language back into words. The electronic newspaper is flashed onto the screen of their PC and spoken by a voice synthesizer.
Tim Gunning, National Council for the Blind, believes that the new service will have a positive impact on the social and intellectual aspects of the lives of blind and visually impaired people.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 29 November 1993. The reporter is George Devlin.
