Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 92:

In page 69, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 116 of Principal Act

34.Section 116 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (16):

“(17) No less than 25 per cent of monies spent by RTÉ on independent television or sound broadcasting in any given year shall be spent on programming or content in the Irish language, from 31 December 2025.”.”.

This amendment seeks to ensure RTÉ will work to increase and adequately fund the production of Irish language content. From the start of 2026, a quarter of the money RTÉ spends on independent commissioning for TV and radio would have to go towards Irish language production. The 25% quota is in line with the same quota being implemented on the new European work schemes, which will be funded by the audiovisual media services levy. RTÉ is a public service broadcaster and should have the same specific responsibility to fund Irish language programming, independent of the newly-proposed scheme. This would help address the current inadequacy of RTÉ's Irish language provision, as identified by An Coimisinéir Teanga, and would reinforce the bilingual role of RTÉ as a public service broadcaster. It would also directly fund job opportunities in the Irish language, something that can encourage people to pursue studies and further opportunities in the language. This would demonstrate the value and utility of learning and using Irish as part of a career and open career goals. Not only is there a work element to this, there is also a cultural element and an entertainment element.