Mr. Paul Farrell:

Regarding the model of funding, this touches on what we have said all along. Every year the conversation tends to be about the licence fee, how much is being paid or avoided, but recent responses to parliamentary questions in the House show that the avoidance fee has come down by 3% each year, while the collection fee this year is on target to be the same as it was last year. Much of the noise is focused in the wrong area, namely, how much of the licence fee is not coming in, rather than how revenue from the fee is being spent. That narrative needs to change quickly.

We come back then to the point Mr. Esslemont and I have made throughout regarding how this funding is defined and allocated. Screen Ireland and the BAI's sound and vision scheme do a good job in making good decisions. Those decisions are supported by the independent producers, the local companies on the ground which are coming up with the ideas, and we are very much partners in that process. The problem with the current model is that we have between 1,800 and 1,900 people who are supported to make all those decisions, and that means those people on the ground in Tipperary, Galway or Mayo do not have as big a say in or influence on what content is being created. A radical overhaul is needed of how those decisions are made and in respect of that community and ecosystem.

Touching on some previous questions, and with reference to technology, which Ms Ní Chaoindealbháin will comment on in greater detail, we have seen in our Cork and Limerick bureaux that technology, and other aspects, facilitate a more dynamic relationship with the guys on the ground in respect of the production of content straight into a broadcaster, and not the clunky model supported by the existing licence model. I ask Ms Ní Chaoindealbháin to speak about Limerick and Cork and what she has seen in respect of how local producers can be better supported.