COMMUNICATIONS:TG4 was a big winner from yesterday's Budget, getting a 15 per cent increase in its allocation from the exchequer for 2008.
The Galway-based television station is to get an extra €4.7 million in funding next year to help it to "move towards its goal of broadcasting six hours of Irish language material daily".
This will bring TG4's budget to €36.6 million in 2008, up from €31.9 million.
Launched in 1996, the station is watched by 800,000 people daily and has a 3 per cent share of the national TV market.
The funding for TG4 was welcomed by both Fine Gael and Labour.
"TG4 has been a great success and it deserves financial support to stand on its own two feet," said Fine Gael's communications spokesman Simon Coveney.
TG4 became an independent statutory entity on April 1st, cutting its ties with RTÉ.
"It is certainly to be welcomed, but it raises questions as to the future of TG4 and how it will be incorporated into the [ new] Broadcasting Authority of Ireland," said Labour's communications spokeswoman Liz McManus.
RTÉ is set for a 7 per cent increase in its funding for next year, from €195 million to €208 million.
This comprises the recent €2 increase in the licence fee (which will raise €2.8 million), and increased licence sales due to the rise in the number of households and improved collection rates.
The payment to An Post for collecting the licence fee is set to rise by 6 per cent in 2008 to €12.7 million.
Fine Gael was less complimentary about the Government's declaration that an extra €18 million had been allocated for the development of telecoms infrastructure, particularly the provision of broadband.
Mr Coveney said the €10 million capital funding announced for the National Broadband Scheme merely replaced a similar amount from the 2007 budget that was raided by Minister for Energy and Communications Éamon Ryan to shore up an overrun in the cost of a green homes scheme run by Sustainable Energy Ireland.
"He's actually giving the money back," Mr Coveney said.
Mr Coveney said the State should spend considerably more on broadband.
"We're falling behind the rest of Europe in broadband terms, we're only allocating a fraction of what we should be spending," he said.
A spokeswoman for Mr Ryan confirmed that the money was reallocated from the 2007 budget as the broadband scheme was not yet up and running. "It will be up and running very soon," she added.
The National Broadband Scheme is aimed at providing high-speed internet to the 10 per cent of the population that cannot receive the service.
Four groups - Eircom, BT, Hutchinson Whampoa, the Irish Farmers' Association and Motorola have all tendered for the scheme.
A shortlist of two companies is expected to be drawn up in February, with the contract likely to be awarded by the end of March.
