RTÉ has grabbed most of the money offered by the BCI's Sound & Vision fund, the scheme set up to allow licence fee money go to the private sector for the first time in Irish broadcasting history.

Figures covering the five-year history of the scheme, seen by the Sunday Tribune, show RTE has been highly successful in tapping the funding available.

The fund was set up in 2003 after RTÉ received an increase of over 40% in the television licence fee. Under government plans at the time, 5% of the licence fee was to be allocated to a special fund to encourage independent production and Irish content. RTÉ has received a total of €16.6m, based on a study of the fund since its inception. TG4 has managed to receive €8m from the fund, with TV3 awarded €4.7m. British channels have been awarded €1.7m.

"We believe that 5% was allocated to this special fund for the purposes of encouraging more Irish programming from more Irish broadcasters, yet the reality is that the lion's share has gone back to RTE and TG4," said TV3. This is not what was foreseen at the commencement of the scheme, the station said.

RTE offered a different explanation for the allocations over the five years.

"RTÉ has qualified for a large minority share of funding because it produces and commissions public service programmes on a scale unmatched by other broadcasters," said an RTÉ spokesman. The station said programmes such as Cromwell in Ireland would not have been made without the scheme and documentaries such as The Catalpa Rescue or The Undertaking might not have reached the air without the funding.

"We feel that RTÉ has found a loophole via the independents which is really contrary to the spirit of the scheme," said the TV3 spokeswoman.