Mr. Brian Dalton:

With regard to RTE supporting the arts, we have a very deep regional footprint in the "Nationwide" news programme broadcast four nights a week. It gives wide coverage to what is happening across the regions. That is the essence of the programme. We support festivals all over the country, particularly during summertime, and they have a wide and varied regional footprint. In terms of performance, it depends what festival is taking place, whether it is the Galway Arts Festival or a film festival. That dictates the support we provide. That is something we will examine but we give fair representation to the various activities that take place in the regions. It is a good question.

In terms of independent commissioning spending, we spend 45% of what is available, which is a high level. A specific amount was mentioned for young people's programming but, relative to what we have, no other broadcaster is spending as much money on young people's programming. It is expensive because of the audience share. The cost per hour is relatively expensive but it is what we are asked to do as a public service broadcaster. We launched RTE Junior over two years ago and it is quite successful. We have a strong commitment in the area but we have been limited as our funds have dropped dramatically. We have taken out more than €130 million in costs. We have made recommendations on policy changes and said that if the changes were made we would invest in young people's programming and drama and it would create jobs.

With regard to music airtime and Irish music, representations have been made to us about country and western music and Irish music in general. We are mindful of it. We can demonstrate the amount of broadcasting of Irish music. We could be more mindful of it and we are conscious of that.