Mr. Declan McLoughlin:

Certainly, it is an initiative that is growing. It is part of the Screen Greening Coalition, which is overseeing it. The key players there are the national television broadcasters, Screen Producers Ireland, Fís Éireann - Screen Ireland, the BAI and other parties. It is something that is growing and evolving. For example, TG4 has mandated that all programmes it makes will be certified using the Albert carbon calculator. It is being very actively used in Virgin Media and in RTÉ. A lot of the work has been driven by Screen Producers Ireland. It was its initiative and the Screen Greening Coalition itself is chaired by John Gormley, who has a keen interest in sustainability, as we are aware. We are looking at how to grow and improve that initiative in the second half of this year. We are probably going to have to look at a different funding model in order to expand it. There may be a role for coimisiún na meán in terms of putting it on a national statutory basis.

It is also worth noting that Screen Ireland is very actively engaging on this. As I understand it, it is looking to mandate its use as part of its funding as well. It is still at a reasonably early stage, but it is going to have to expand. The Screen Greening Coalition is looking at how that can be done. Funding will be an important part of that as well, or certainly very useful. We can send on some additional details. I recommend that Senator Higgins could contact Screen Producers Ireland, which is overseeing the project.