The Irish language dating show, Grá ar an Trá, fronted by-election hopeful Gráinne Seoige that will now never see the light of day cost more than €750,000 to produce, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
And €500,000 of the funding for Grá ar an Trá was a taxpayer-funded grant. The show was due to air on Virgin Media last month but was pulled at the eleventh hour.
In September, the MoS reported Virgin Media would have breached regulatory guidelines if a programme fronted by Ms Seoige was aired while she was running for the Dáil in the Galway West constituency.
Earlier this week our sister news website, Extra.ie, revealed the show was pulled after it emerged one of the participants had a criminal conviction for assaulting a woman. Michael Prendeville, 30, of Lispole, Co. Kerry, who was set to be a contestant on the show and RTÉ’s Love in the Country, was convicted at Kenmare District Court on December 2, 2022 of assaulting a woman.
It is understood that he had failed to disclose his criminal conviction. Billed as Ireland’s answer to Love Island, Grá ar an Trá was to feature 12 singletons, confined to close quarters in a rural Gaeltacht area where they were encouraged ‘to find love for both the Irish language and each other’.
The show’s €500,000 grant was awarded by the Sound and Vision- Fund, which falls under the remit of Minister Catherine Martin’s Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media The Department refused to comment on whether the State would seek to recoup the grant funding.
In response to queries from the MoS, a spokesperson said: ‘Under the Broadcasting Act 2009, the regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, is
responsible for the operation of the Sound and Vision scheme and is independent in its decision-making around the administration of funding provided under the scheme.
The Department and the Minister do not have any role in relation to the editorial decisions of a broadcaster.’ Hosted by Seoige, James Kavanagh and Síomha Ní Ruairc, the show’s second series was shelved just four days before it was scheduled to air on Monday, October 14.
Cúán Mac Conghail, who is listed as ‘film and television producer’ at the show’s production company Macalla Teoranta, also declined to respond to queries.
