The Minister for Communications Dermot Ahern will publish legislation later today creating a new fund which will give commercial broadcasters access to up to 5% of the television licence fee.
The fund will offer €8m per year to finance new radio and television programmes on Irish culture and heritage, and programmes to improve adult literacy.
This formalises one of the ideas outlined by Dermot Ahern, when he approved the increase in the TV licence fee to €150 year last December.
The €8m fund will be available to both the independent sector and RTE, to help finance TV and radio programmes on Irish culture, heritage and experience.
It will also support adult literacy programmes and the development of national archive of broadcasting material, including recordings from both RTE and the commerical sector.
The fund will initially be administered by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, which currently regulates the independent radio sector. However it will be replaced by the minister's planned Broadcasting Authority of Ireland to be created from the merger of the BCI with the RTE Authority.
A spokesman for the minister said he hopes to pass the bill by the year end. A spokeswoman for RTE confirmed the national broadcaster will be applying for money from the fund.
She said RTE was anxious to see a clear and professional scheme to administer the fund, so it meets the vision outlined by the Minister last December.
