Ms Niamh Ní Charra:

Yes. There are several parts to this. We need to consider where AI slots in, the fact that it is constantly developing and the work that would need to be done before that, in the first place. Mr. O'Connor mentioned risk and with an awful lot of the archives, until they have been digitised in the first place, we do not know what material is there. This is a huge risk. Having these obligations in place, whatever way that is done, is all about being in a position to protect material before it is too late. AI can possibly be of use down the line when we are trying to broaden the metadata that is attached and we heard Ms Dooley from RTÉ talking about that earlier. That is where AI comes in. It may end up helping down the line in terms of copyright and all of that but the essential stage that has to happen first is knowing what material we have and making it safe. Legislation like this is absolutely vital, regardless of whether it remains in this format or is amended or improved. That has to happen first.

In the context of RTÉ, there is a wider issue involving TG4 and other archives across the country that feed in, some of which are in individual production companies. In general, there is a huge danger in this country at the moment, because of the underfunding of the sector, that material is disintegrating or being deliberately destroyed before we know what is there, what we have and before we can take it further.