Half of the country may have been raised by Zig and Zag but RTÉ has announced that it will no longer be producing children's programmes.
The State broadcaster made the devastating announcement last night, confirming that it will be outsourcing all of its shows for young people and teenagers to external production companies.
It revealed that the decision had been made due to financial restrictions and told The Irish Independent that it would not affect the output.
"Recognising the challenging financial environment, and so as to achieve stronger efficiencies and value for money, RTÉ is to make changes to how it produces young people's programmes," it said.
"After an examination of all output, a decision has been made to commission all young people's programmes from the independent sector, enabling RTÉ to meet its statutory committed spend in the sector and reducing operating costs internally. RTÉ is not reducing its commitment to younger people's programmes, nor its spend."
Sad times indeed.
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