Mr. Terence O'Rourke:

I am not personally aware of anything. Every year we produce an independent production unit report. Under the Broadcasting Act RTÉ must spend at least €40 million on independent productions and that is an indexed fee. The report for 2023 which is being finalised at the moment will show that we spent the minimum amount and a bit more. The report also makes sure that the accounting for that is done properly and that the money that was set aside in a separate account has been disbursed properly and that there are receipts for that. It is an audited report and the auditors confirm that all of that has been done. I have not seen anything wrong in that.

Large commissions costing over €1 million, which includes some of our drama productions, come with detail to the board and the programming committee. We see those large commissions, we interrogate and challenge how they were done and whether they were done fairly. We get a good feeling from that. I have only seen two or three since I came into the role but they looked like they had been done rigorously and run properly.