Report calls for extra funding for TG4

The Government must increase funding to TG4, the country's only Irish-language TV station, or risk putting independent producers out of business, according to a new report published today.

The report, commissioned by the Screen Producers Ireland and supported by Údarás na Gaeltachta, claims that increasing the station's annual funding from €30m to €44m over the next four years would allow it to double its output in Irish, and broadcast more live sport.

The report says the number of Irish speakers has risen by more than 140,000 since TG4 went on air in 1996.

But it says budget pressures are pushing independent producers, who are responsible for much of TG4's programmes in Irish, away and warns that this could have serious implications for the growth of the language.