Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome all of the witnesses and thank them for their input today and contributions to Irish content creation. As a number of witnesses have said, we are seeing almost a renaissance in Irish content. Mar sin, déanaim comhghairdeas le TG4 agus Fís Éireann, agus le hÚdarás Craolacháin na hÉireann, as an scannán álainn "An Cailín Ciúin". Guím gach rath ar an scannán sin sna seachtainí atá romhainn, and other films such as "The Banshees of Inisherin" and so on. It is a film that is a great example of co-operation.

I have three groups of questions and we might be able to come back. I congratulate Ms Craig and wish her the best of luck. Moving on the Future of Media Commission report and the establishment of the commission is moving in the right direction.

My first question is to RTÉ. From Cabinet today, it appears that decisions with regard to the TV licence fee have been kicked to touch again, to a certain extent. If we do not get a decision fairly quickly on the future funding model for RTÉ, what are the implications for it? Related to that is whether RTÉ is prepared to move towards a publisher broadcaster model.

Mar a dúirt Alan Esslemont, is craoltóir-foilsitheoir é TG4. An molfadh sé an struchtúr sin do RTÉ? TG4 has a publisher broadcaster model. Would the witnesses recommend that model? Mr. Farrell or Ms Ní Chaoindealbhain might also address that question. They may not wish to comment, but they might follow the RTÉ representatives.

I want to go back to the serious point and echo the concerns Senator Warfield raised regarding regional uplift. There have been a number of productions with various people here. Doing away with the regional uplift is a short-sighted decision. I ask the witnesses to outline the impact that has had on productions and the implications for film and television production in the regions if we do not proceed with it. I have referenced "An Cailín Ciúin" but there are other productions. It is important to get out the message around why such a fund is important.