Funding to TG4 must be increased if the station is to continue to provide original, indigenous Irish language programming, a report on independent television production said.
The report commissioned by Screen Producers Ireland (SPI) and supported by Údaras na Gaeltachta called on the Government to increase funding to €44 million over the next four years.
It warned that failure to increase funding would result in more independent producers going out of business, particularly in Gaeltacht areas, and force TG4 to rely on more English language programming output. This would have serious implications for the future growth of the Irish language.
Among the recommendations in the report was a call for Exchequer funding to be both mainstreamed and increased incrementally over the next four years from €30 million in 2005 to €44 million by 2008.
The SPI chairman, Mr Larry Bass, said TG4 was heavily dependent on the independent producers from whom it commissioned Irish language programming.
"Current levels of funding have increased the pressure on TG4's budget and increasingly independent producers are being forced away from TG4 and Irish language programming. Margins are becoming so tight that they simply can't survive. As our report highlights, the number of independent producers living and working in Gaeltacht areas has decreased by 30 per cent in just three years," Mr Bass said.
The chairman of the SPI's TG4 committee, Mr Irial Mac Murchú, said if funding were to remain at current levels, more jobs would be lost. It was vital that the Government recognised the contribution made by TG4.
Since it went on air in 1996, the number of Irish speakers in the State had risen by more than 140,000.Since TG4 began broadcasting, Government funding had only increased marginally, despite the programming output rising to 19 hours a day from the original two hours, he said.
The report said that TG4 had encouraged the growth of the independent production industry in Gaeltacht areas but that those jobs were increasingly under threat.
It was responsible for the creation of 413 jobs both directly in the station and in independent production companies.
Analysis of the independent television production sector as it applies to TG4 was compiled by consultant Mr Peter Quinn.