Ms Bríd Dooley:

I will answer Senator Byrne’s first question with regard to academic access. We provide access in response to more than 50 individual requests for academic research projects per year, which range from PhDs to master's degrees. A PhD might last for five years while a master's degree may run over six months to one year. In all cases, we have a clear and fair policy for everyone. To my knowledge, we have not knowingly turned anyone away, although I stand to be corrected. We ask for a letter from the academic’s supervisor, such as a letter on headed note paper from the head of school or whatever, to clarify who the academic is and what he or she is doing. We invite academics in and they get access to their research. We do a lot of mediated access services with them as well.

I am not aware of any complaints about the process being ad hoc or difficult to navigate. It is true to say that with more resources, more could be done. In the appendix provided to the committee, the Senator will see that there are a range of universities, studies and courses, both in Ireland and abroad, we have served in the last year alone. As I said, many of those projects are multi-annual. Without any legislation at the moment, we are on par with a lot of other European broadcasters in how we provide that service.