[JMT1985]

RTE were always going to air the coronation - the relationship between the Republic of Ireland and the UK has changed beyond belief since 1953 - just look at the late Queen's visit to Ireland in 2011, and how well received she was, especially when she honoured the Irish dead in their Garden of Remembrance and she said a line in Irish at the state dinner, unthinkable gestures even in the 1990s.

Brexit may have ruined a lot of things, but the relationship between the UK and Republic of Ireland has always been strong in recent years.

RTE of course have little cash, so staying in Studio 3 at RTE and taking the BBC feed is probably their cheapest option, than renting a small studio in London, or even having a temporary studio near the abbey.

Television signals from Northern Ireland were very hard to receive in Dublin and most parts of the Irish republic in 1953. Remember that Belfast transmitter opened in May 1953 was always to be temporary. Maybe viewers (if there were any who could afford it back then) in Dundalk for example might have been lucky to pick up a weak signal.

It wouldn't be until the Divis transmitter opened in July 1955 that the Irish republic had any possibility of receiving BBC signals way down south, well into Dublin - the Dublin city landscape by the late 50s was famous for having HUGE aerials erected on chimney's and tops of houses, to the point it actually caused problems for airplanes landing and taking off at Dublin airport.

Spill over signal from VHF and later UHF transmissions was always interesting, I am surprised those signals got into the republic so much, but according to some articles, by the early 1960s, over 65% of the Irish republic were able to receive both BBC and UTV from Northern Ireland, or BBC and ITV Wales (TWW later Harlech) from Wales.

Slightly off topic but back in the days of the Paramount Channel's text service's forum a contributor from the West Wales coast would talk about receiving Network 2 (as it then was).

That is correct. Many viewers in Wales and south west England could receive RTE television and radio channels. In fact there is a clip from the RTE television version of Points of View called " Mailbag" which had a letter from a viewer in Penzance, Cornwall, and where they were placed, they couldn't receive signals from the UK transmitters, due the terrain blocking their signals, but could easily receive RTE One and RTE 2 which they said enjoyed watching. 

I have just found that clip - here it is on YouTube, and the item about the viewer from Cornwall is at the 2 minute, 35 second mark.

www.youtube.com