Mr. Alan Esslemont:

Diversity is in the DNA of TG4; it is a súil eile. We inhabit a creative space that no other broadcaster in Ireland is able or willing to go into. Last night, we had a window on the arts during Covid-19 in a show from Roundstone called "Samhlú 2020". If the members of the committee have not seen it yet, I encourage them to watch it because it is a wonderful programme. It was a programme we could not normally do with our resources, but we managed to do it with the help of Creative Ireland, the Minister and the Department. Only TG4 would come up with that kind of a view. Again, this was an independent company from the west of Ireland showing the talent that exists.

We also broadcast in Northern Ireland and it is important that we become more prominent there. We have been seeking to get on Freeview channel 8 for a long time and we have been looking for recognition as a public service broadcaster in Northern Ireland. That is important. We are already working with broadcasters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We have a children's programme called "Sol", for example, to be broadcast on the winter solstice, which is about how a young person deals with grief. It is important that we broadcast a programme like that in this year of Covid-19, one which has heart and soul, faces towards a young audience and looks at the subject of grief from the perspective of the return of the light.