TG4 head to step down as channel nears 20th birthday

The director-general of TG4, Pól Ó Gallchóir, is stepping down from the role after almost 17 years at the head of the Irish language television channel.

Mr Ó Gallchóir will leave his post at the end of September, the broadcaster has announced. He has been in the role since April 2000, when he succeeded the channel's first head, Cathal Goan.

Mr Ó Gallchóir thanked the board and staff of TG4 and said it had achieved recognition as a channel that provided an alternative viewpoint, or súil eile.

The position of director-general or ardstiúrthóir will be advertised shortly, with the process overseen by TG4 chairwoman Siún Ní Raghallaigh.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh praised Mr Ó Gallchóir, who joined TG4 from RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, for his dedication to Irish language broadcasting and his “huge contribution” to the service.

The change in leadership comes ahead of TG4’s 20th anniversary, which it celebrates on Halloween.

The public service broadcaster had its funding cut by €500,000 in 2015 and also endured ongoing pressure on its commercial income, which Minister for Communications Denis Naughten said last month had left it with an "exceptionally challenging" budget.

Mr Naughten told an Oireachtas committee that this had affected its ability to deliver on its commitments for 2015, and an additional €300,000 in funding was provided in 2016 to "to allow it to compete by producing more home-produced content to help distinguish itself from international channels".

In 2015, TG4 broadcast an average of 4.8 hours of new original Irish language content output per day. Total Irish language broadcast hours arrived at 5,021, or some 57 per cent of the total broadcast hours on the channel.

Recent commissions by the channel include dramas such as An Klondike and Eipic.