Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the witnesses and wish them a happy new year.

I shall start with TG4. Mr. Esslemont, in his statement, mentioned the areas of " language corpus management, language acquisition management and language status management" in conjunction with the capability of the language shift. Will he elaborate on that? Can he outline how much he thinks TG4 has been underfunded? He called for a comprehensive review. What are the crucial points that should be included in a review?

I understand that the Future of Media Commission recommended that RTÉ invest in innovation. What ideas has RTÉ had on that? What examples does it have in that regard? What steps has it taken to reduce its financial deficit and to stabilise expenditure? On a more elaborate note, what changes, if any, are needed or would it recommend to the defamation legislation? How does RTÉ increase its accountability and transparency?

As for Screen Ireland, "The Banshees of Inisherin" and "An Cailín Ciúin" are brilliant productions. I understand that the former got eight Golden Globe nominations, three of which were successful. The following really bothers me sometimes. It has been brought up before. Screen Ireland talks about its funding for intellectual property to be developed. How important is that? In the past we had great animations produced and they wound up with Netflix and other companies, which have made a fortune out of them, while the people who actually produced them basically got tuppence or nothing. Maybe Screen Ireland could expand on its international opportunities. How are local funding and Screen Ireland's partnerships working? Does Screen Ireland think that is the model to go forward?

Virgin Media talks about setting up a single digital platform. How does it see that working, and who is responsible for the governance of it?

As for community television, I agree with a lot of the points Ms Bowell put forward. The simple things like getting included in Saorview should definitely be included. The 1% of the fee should be considered, and the journalism bursary should definitely include community television.