Mr. R?n?n ? Domhnaill:

The funding is distributed through our Sound and Vision scheme. Some 7% of the licence fee income is set aside for the administration of the Sound and Vision scheme and our archiving scheme. It is run through open rounds in general or sometimes more specialised rounds. There are roughly between two or four rounds a year. The open rounds roughly equate to €6 million to €7 million per round. We have had supplements to the 7% income from the Department since 2020, which has been very welcome. We got a €6 million investment from the Department into the Sound and Vision scheme for this year, which was given to us last year for this year’s funding and is very welcome. That was to negate, in part, the drop-off in income because of the licence fee and also to invest more in programming relating to young people and new Irish communities. Open rounds are adjudicated on and assessed by external assessors and they progress through the year. That is how those are operated. One thing to bear in mind about them is that the request for funding sometimes could be in the ratio of 2:1 or 3:1 of what we have available to give out and there are times when there are very worthwhile projects we would like to support but cannot because the funding is not there. It is interesting that ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine. With the Sound and Vision scheme, 40% of the projects also avail of section 481 relief as well. It shows the holistic approach that is needed for funding in Ireland. Different measures need to come together to ensure success.