Mr. Dermot Horan:

As to the Senator’s question on ownership rights, in broad terms, RTÉ owns the copyright of in-house productions, like news and current affairs. It is the independent producer which owns the intellectual property, IP, of independent productions. While RTÉ has extensive rights within the Republic of Ireland for those independent productions, which suits our purposes, the independent producer owns the rights to sell internationally, etc. We, therefore, do not own the rights to “Love/Hate” or “Room to Improve.” They are owned by the independent production company. We have been before an Oireachtas committee previously where we said how important it is for independent producers to own their IP in order to grow.

We do not own the rights to sports. While we own the commentary and the punditry, the rights of the actual programmes are owned by the GAA, the IRFU or the IFA. RTÉ does not own those rights.

There are further complexities with in-house programmes. Someone could have made a documentary in-house, such as an Irish-language or historical documentary, with archive material from Pathé News. That material might only have been bought for two or three years. We do not necessarily have that clear. Even within existing in-house programmes, there is complexity, shall we say.