THOUSANDS of RTÉ news reports from the 1980s and 1990s are to be made available on the state broadcaster's website.
The RTÉ Archives News Collection covers the period from 1985 to 1999.
Almost 1,500 news stories from 1985 were posted online on Friday as the scheme was launched in Dublin, with more items to be updated on a daily basis.
RTÉ processed more than 13,000 video tapes of recordings for the new collection, which contains more than 9,000 hours of news content.
With the assistance of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, the video recordings were transported from Dublin to Amsterdam, where they were baked in specially designed ovens to recover the picture and sound quality before final digitisation.
Footage released yesterday include reports on the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Ireland's rugby team winning the Triple Crown, and current presenter of The Sunday Game, Des Cahill, relaxing with Champagne during an item on the launch of a new Aer Lingus transatlantic flight.
The head of RTÉ Archives, Brid Dooley, said: "Over a quarter of a century after its introduction, the video tape format, which replaced film, is now in peril and must be reformatted to be preserved. Without this intervention valuable content is at risk of being lost to future generations."
Hilary McGouran, deputy managing director of RTÉ News (television), said: "To think that these reports may have been lost to us forever is incomprehensible. I truly hope that people take time to enjoy this collection which offers invaluable perspectives on our recent past."
