RTÉ has been accused of failing to support Irish production companies after it commissioned two new TV series from the same overseas company.

UK-based Rival Media will make two programmes for RTÉ's Young People division. In The Shrinks, four children aged nine to 14 act as agony aunts, while Band From School will take four popular Irish bands back to the schools they attended as children.

The news has been greeted with disappointment by Irish television production companies.

Sean Stokes, chief executive of Screen Producers Ireland, said: "This is public licence-payers' money being used to buy UK goods at a time we should be seeking to where possible always look from within... The station's spend on independent production is already being significantly reduced and I am disappointed to learn RTÉ is purchasing programming from outside the country."

Stokes, whose organisation represents more than 170 production companies in Ireland, said: "It's a bad state of affairs when we can't look to see what's on our doorsteps for producing this type of programming. I don't believe for a moment that we don't have the relevant competencies, talent and creativity in local companies to do these kind of series... Irish independent production companies have a proven track record of creating formats which have been used all around the world."

A spokeswoman for RTÉ said the programmes "were awarded these contracts after a commissioning round which was run in an open and transparent manner. Under EU law, RTÉ is obliged to accept pitches from EU-based production companies. It would actually be illegal for us to discriminate against non-Irish, EU-based companies.

"All decisions are based on assessments of what is best for our viewers."