James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to be overly negative. I wish to compliment the current affairs aspect of what RTÉ is doing; it is excellent. The public get good value for tax money in that regard, particularly with radio. The figures internationally are very impressive. Coming back to the content creation side of dramas with home-grown talent in Ireland, is Ms Forbes at liberty to divulge how much RTÉ is investing in this on an annual basis or how much money it may need on an ongoing basis? The public is willing to support RTÉ as an entity as long as it sees a return for that investment. RTÉ has proven that it can be done successfully, through a very limited scope in recent years and with certain shows that it has worked on. For the survival of the station, that is an area that deeply needs further investigation and, obviously, investment.

From an annual expenditure point of view, what is RTÉ currently spending on its own content creation, looking purely at the lifestyle and arts side of the station, rather than current affairs and sport?