An additional €4.2m for TG4 in Budget 2022

An additional €4.2m for TG4 in Budget 2022

TG4 welcomes today's budget announcement of an additonal € 4.2m for TG4 in 2022

12.10.21

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TG4 has welcomed today's announcement in Budget 2022 of an additional funding of € 4.2m for TG4 in 2022. This is the second year in a row that the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media has given a significant funding increase to TG4. TG4 will receive € 44.9m from the exchequer in 2022.
Alan Esslemont, Director General of TG4 welcomed today's announcement, "We are very grateful to the Government, Minister Catherine Martin, the Secretary General and officials in the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media for the significant additional funding for TG4 for the second year in a row. The recommendations put forward in TG4's Post-Covid Vision Document shows that TG4 and the Board of TG4 have an ambitious vision for Irish language media. We look forward to the recommendations of the Future of Media Commission to develop Irish language media further.
As TG4 is about to celebrate its 25th birthday, we are delighted that a new generation of talented young people are entering this industry. The continued support of the Government gives the independent production sector the opportunity to provide attractive careers for young Irish speakers.
We have had two very hard years and I thank my colleagues at TG4 and the independent creative sector for their enthusiasm and commitment to the audience during the pandemic. Today's announcement gives us all hope for 2022."
TG4 was the 6th most watched channel in Ireland in 2020 for the second year in a row. The average viewing share for 2020 was 1.83%, and there was a 3% increase in primetime share from 2019 to 1.92%. TG4 invested € 25.26m in the independent production sector last year. Over 77% of expenditure was spent on creating new Irish language content.