RTÉ has threatened to pull episodes of its flagship environmental programmes presented by architect Duncan Stewart after learning that companies paid substantial sums for coverage.
RTÉ says it will not transmit any episodes of About the House and Eco Eye unless it is satisfied that their content does not breach Government codes of standards on sponsorship.
An RTÉ spokeswoman said that up to last week it believed that Eco Eye was sponsored only by companies named at the end of the programme.
However, it has since emerged that other companies whose products have been featured on Mr Stewart's programmes have also paid money to cover the costs of production.
Last week's Sunday Times reported that one company paid €4,000 to Mr Stewart's company, Earth Horizon Productions, to cover costs for a six-minute segment on Eco Eye that was shown in February 2002.
Another company involved in the building of timber homes paid an undisclosed amount to appear in About the House.
Last night Mr Stewart confirmed that commercial companies had provided sponsorship for his programmes on two occasions.
"I shouldn't have had a commercial company contribute but the matter was minor and, anyway, it had no influence on editorial content."
Mr Stewart said RTÉ had not agreed to commission the programmes so he had had to raise the necessary funds himself.
This was a tough job, but he believed they carried important messages on the environment that wouldn't otherwise have been transmitted.
In one instance, the manufacturer of an environment-friendly food-waste digester paid the costs of a feature on composting. Mr Stewart said this enabled him to show a technology that was new to the Irish market.
In the other case a company making timber homes paid the air fares of four members of the programme team who travelled to Canada.
However, Mr Stewart said these were the only instances of commercial sponsorship which had not been declared, and no other episodes of his programmes were affected.
About the House is currently in the middle of a 15-episode run on primetime television, while a new series of Eco Eye is in production.
The Government code of practice on sponsorship in broadcasting, drawn up in 1995, says sponsored programmes must be clearly identified as such by the name and/or logo of the sponsor at the beginning or end of the programme.
The guidelines say that a sponsored programme promotes a sponsor's product other than in advertisement in commercial breaks.
The code also places responsibility for ensuring editorial integrity on the broadcaster, i.e. RTÉ, even where programmes are made by independent producers.
