Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are being very generous in giving ourselves eight minutes. I probably will not use all my time. I welcome all the witnesses and thank them for their presentations. My first question is for the ard-stiúrthóir of TG4. What needs to be done to support the audiovisual sector in the regions? On the same point, will the Screen Ireland delegates comment on their support for the section 481 regional uplift scheme and whether they are working with the Department of Finance on that issue?

Before putting a question to the witnesses from the BAI, I must declare an interest. I was a member of Dublin Community Television for many years and a volunteer there for some time. It has always been a major source of frustration that we have a number of licensed television stations in this country that are not free to air, were not available on the previous system and are not available on digital terrestrial television. What can the BAI do to support Mr. Murray and Ms Bowell of the Community Television Association, who are here today, in their call for visibility and findability on free-to-air digital terrestrial television? That is the least we should expect for any licensed television station. The cost is prohibitive, as we know from the experience of Oireachtas TV. That was a very public process. Surely we all can bring together our collective experiences to ensure any television station that has a licence in this country is publicly available.