Departmental Funding

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2021

Tuesday, 15 June 2021

Questions (511, 512)

Imelda Munster

Question:

511. Deputy Imelda Munster asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if the additional €2 million announced in Budget 2021 for the broadcasting fund is a once-off Covid-19 payment for 2021; if it can be understood to be a new component of her Department’s baseline core funding allocation; the amount of it that has been spent to date; the amount expected to be spent by the end of 2021; and the amount expected to be carried over to 2022. [31075/21]

Imelda Munster

Question:

512. Deputy Imelda Munster asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the allocation that was made to the sound and vision fund in Budget 2021; the amount of same spent to date; the amount expected to be spent by the end of 2021; and the amount carried over to 2022. [31076/21]

Written answers

Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media

I propose to take Questions Nos. 511 and 512 together.

REV2021 allocations recognise the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the sectors under the aegis of my Department as well as the impact of BREXIT and commitments contained in the Programme for Government – Our Shared Future. However, there is no specific categorisation of funding allocations within programme areas other than by subhead.

The additional €2m in budget 2021 is comprised of €1.2m for Irish Language Broadcasting which was agreed alongside New Decade New Approach Agreement and €0.839m for BAI to recoup the cost of the levy waiver for the independent radio sector in 2020. The €1.2m will be allocated as follows: €1m to the Irish Language Broadcasting Fund administered by Northern Ireland Screen for Irish language content production and €100,000 each to RTE and TG4 for promotion of Irish Language broadcasting in Northern Ireland.

Part 10 of the Broadcasting Act, 2009 makes provision for the disbursement of 7% of the net television licence fee receipts to the Broadcasting Fund administered by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. As the Broadcasting Fund is primarily funded through TV licence receipts which in turn are determined by direct sales in the course of the year, it is not possible to determine until year end the precise allocation to the Broadcasting Fund.

The Broadcasting Fund supports both the Sound and Vision (S&V) and Archiving Schemes. To date in 2021 (8 June 2021) the BAI’s Broadcasting Fund has received €5.869m from licence fee receipts. All TV licence receipts received in 2021 will be allocated in accordance with the provisions set out in the Broadcasting Act 2009.

In light of the ongoing challenges faced by the sector, I provided an additional €4.9m in exchequer funds for the Sound and Vision Scheme in late 2020. €1m of this was allocated by the BAI under Round 37 in December 2020. The balance of €3.9m was recently allocated by the BAI with €2.5m allocated to the commercial radio sector providing supports to all 32 stations (Round 39) and €1.4m allocated to 8 projects to support the live music sector (Round 38)

Question No. 513 answered with Question No. 503.