The fund, founded as a result of legislation introduced in 2003, is backed by 5% of the total annual television licence fee revenue, and provides finance to the independent sector to produce programming that primarily focuses on Irish "culture, heritage and experience".

In the last round of funding, announced in February, a total of 27m was requested to finance total programming worth over 62.4m. The BCI awarded grants worth just under 11m. A substantial grant amount was available due to the fact that money had accumulated in the fund since 2003, but the awards process only began this year.

Perhaps surprisingly, some 60% of the first round grants went to programming that was pre-approved for broadcast by TG4. Broadcasters have to pre-approve applications to the fund: the BCI maintains that, without such a requirement, a situation could arise where money is allocated to a project ends up having no takers for broadcast afters its completion.

About 33% of first-round allocations went to programmes that will be shown on RTE. (One documentary series, awared 17,000, will be aired on Lyric FM. ) The remainder was allocated to other regional radio stations, as well as some to private sports broadcaster, Setanta.

TV3 has previously dismissed the fund, the station's chief executive Rick Hetherington saying that there is "absolutely no incentive" to get involved with it.

He said the rules governing the fund are too narrow, and that any programming funded by the scheme that TV3 aired would not count towards its output quotas that stipulate the amount of public service airtime it must generate.

Hetherington has also said that TV3 would not be able to recoup costs through advertising because programmes produced under the fund, which have to be shown during prime time, would have limited audience and therfore limited commercial appeal.

Still, it's clear that the Sound & Vision Fund has been a welcome boon for much of the independent production sector.

For Kilkenny-based Cartoon Saloon, which was awarded almost 500,000 towards its 5m-plus animated film, Brendan and the Secret of Kells (pictured above), featuring the voices of Brendan Gleeson (right) and Mick Lally, the money meant it was able to bring on board a renowned French composer to spice up a soundtrack that will now rank as highly as any on other international features.

For other independents, it has meant being able to proceed with projects that otherwise may not have been made at all.

"I don't think a project like this could have been made without the funding, " said John Murray of Crossing the Line Films, which was awarded almost 400,000 to produce The Catalpa Rescue, which will recount the 1876 tale of a breakout from an Australian prison by six Fenian activists.

The project will require substantial financial outlay to convincingly recreate the nineteenth century era and events.

Others, such as Tom Weir of Janey Pictures, said the fund improves the chances of raising additional finance outside the country, because potential investors can be shown that decent-sized funding has already been received. Janey Pictures was awarded 500,000 towards a movie, 32A, with a total budget of 1.65m.

Good news all around, then, for those who got the money, but the Sound & Vision Fund also raises some questions as to why such programming could not have been made in the first place with direct funding from either RTE or TG4.

Brian Reddin, director of Dearg Films, which received almost 400,000 to make an eight-part series on Irish presidents, claimed that some of the programmes that secured money from the fund "would never have been commissioned by RTE", and said that TG4 has traditionally been more open to niche projects.

RTE refuted the argument that it would not commission a broad range of programming, pointing to its record of home-produced documentaries (18 broadcast in the past 12 months), and increased spending on other areas, such as children's programmes.

A spokeswoman for the public service broadcaster said it had taken a decision to support "a small number" of applications to the first round of the Sound & Vision scheme. A total of eight RTEbacked projects were awarded grants.

TG4 will receive a total of 28m from the Exchequer this year, and 20m of that will be spent on programming. The first round of funding from the Sound & Vision scheme effectively boosted TG4's programming budget by over 6m, or 30%.

The station's deputy chief executive, Padhraic O Ciardha, agreed that the first round of awards has been beneficial, but stressed that the second round may see a much higher proportion awarded to programming to be aired on RTE.

Eventually the Sound & Vision Fund will balance out at having about 8.5m per annum to award, so the boost to any single broadcaster will not be as great in the future.

O Ciardha also pointed out that the station must itself part-fund any project it backs to receive a grant. In the case of Dearg Films, it is providing roughly 80,000 for the new series.

Apart from funding more new projects, O Ciardha said, TG4 must continue to provide finance for its "bread and butter" programming, such as its soap opera, Ros na Run.

Whether TG4 would prefer not to have to deal with the Sound & Vision Fund at all, and instead receive additional overall funding, remains open to question, though one industry insider said the station would welcome such a situation.

The Sound & Vision Fund looks set to see a chunk of licence fee revenue continue to swing largely between projects for broadcast on either RTE and TG4, a scenario that has a more significant benefit to the latter . . . and which effectively gives money back to RTE that it would have received anyway had the Sound & Vision Fund not been established.

There's an argument for simply divvying out the money to RTE and TG4, with a proportion retained for other broadcasters. That's very unlikely to happen, however. RTE maintains that it is "very happy" with the current set up regarding the fund.

Independent producers who called for the fund in the first place likely care little for who broadcasts their shows, as long as they get made in the first place. The Sound & Vision Fund is helping them to do that, and maybe . . . at last . . . programming that should have been made all along will finally make it onto the nation's television screens.