Ms Dee Forbes:

It is a really interesting point. As the Deputy said, the land we sold went for a very lucrative price. I think it was the highest price per acre ever in this market. The value has now reduced but that does not mean it may not rise again. The thing we have to think about, and we have done a lot of work on this over the years, is that it is quite a complex matter simply to lift and shift RTÉ because of the infrastructure needed for broadcast. While the Deputy is correct to say that, if we were starting again, we would probably not need all the studio infrastructure we have right now, we have to look at the feasibility of that because the last time we looked at this, which was a couple of years ago, the amount of money we would get from a land sale and then to be able to build would not add up. We simply would not have enough money. If we take, for example, what the BBC has done and what the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is doing, they are availing of significant other cash to move from where they are to where they are going to be. Typically, they are part of renewed areas or media city developments, so they are becoming anchor tenants in a creative space. They are getting preferential rates and everything else to be part of this.

This is something we have to keep on the agenda and keep looking at, but the maths, the last time we did them, did not add up in terms of being able to afford to move and build what is needed. Right now, there is no media city in Ireland like that in the UK, for example. Having said that, plans are afoot and it is great to hear that studios are coming in and setting up sound stages in the years ahead in and around Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford and so on. That is something we keep a close eye on but, as I said, the maths just do not add up at this point. The interesting thing about the land we sold is that it was greenfield; there was nothing on it. It was a ready-made field that did not have any complex infrastructure. That made it very attractive to the buyer.