Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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199. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the amount of funding that was given to independent productions by (details supplied) in 2020, 2021 and 2022. [27617/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The Broadcasting Act, 2009 requires RTÉ to make specific amounts available each year for the commissioning of television and radio programmes from the independent production sector.

The statutory minimum provision set in 2009 was €40m, and the Act provides that for subsequent years this amount is adjusted in line with the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) measured from August 2008 to the August immediately preceding the financial year concerned.

In accordance with Section 116(10) of the Broadcasting Act 2009, RTÉ is obliged to make a report to me as Minister on its commissioning activities, and copies of the report are required to be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.

In 2020, RTÉ was required to allocate €40.2m to its Independent Programme Account, however, only €36.5m was paid out, which was €3.7m below the statutory requirement.  RTÉ had advised in early 2020 that as independent productions were largely halted due to COVID-19 restrictions, it would not be possible to meet their statutory obligations for the year. Nevertheless, in compliance with statutory obligation, €40.2m was deposited into the Independent Programmes account with the unspent funds (€3.7m) being carried over and expended in 2021 as provided for in the Act.  It should be noted that in all previous years, the actual amount expended by RTÉ exceeded the statutory minimum.

RTÉ’s 2021 Report has recently been submitted and while it is yet to be laid before the House of the Oireachtas, I can advise that expenditure of the year amounted to €44.7m, some €4.9m above the statutory minimum requirement for the year. This included the unspent amount carried forward from 2021.

The Act requires RTÉ to report concerning the previous year’s funding of independent productions, and therefore, information concerning RTÉ’s funding of independent productions in 2022 will be available in  2023.