Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Several years ago, RTÉ announced that it was moving to a commissioning model for children's programming and moving away from in-house production. This was something I was cautious about and raised it in the Seanad at the time. Has that move to a commissioning model served viewers well? Is it better value for public money?

In 2019, RTÉ spent €39 million on commissioning programmes from the independent sector. It is legally obliged to do so. TG4 spent €23 million commissioning programming from the independent sector. In RTÉ's case, 75% of commissions went to just 12 production companies. I am concerned that only a small number of production companies are being awarded a significant chunk of that €39 million budget. Is that good for emerging talent? Are the independent production countries finding it difficult to break into those commissions? Does it run the risk of the commissions being safe and predictable with experienced talent being favoured?