Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 20 January 2022

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 33: Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Programme E - Broadcasting

9:30 am

Mr. Richard Collins:

Our operation capital spend has been approximately €7.5 million over the last few years. When we did the land sale, the proceeds were ring-fenced for strategic projects. Part of that was capital expenditure, with €35 million ring-fenced for capital expenditure. In 2018 and 2019 we were able to divert another €7.5 million to capital spend. I am giving rounded figures, so we spent about €15 million a year on capital. Obviously, the onset of the pandemic slowed things down in the last two years, but they are the sort of figures we are running at. However, that fund is going to run out and we will be back to the €7.5 million. The business needs to be spending €15 million a year into the future to refresh our existing infrastructure but also to prepare us for the digital world or the digital roadmap of the future. This all links back in with our funding issue.