Ms D?sir?e Finnegan:

I have to come back to the Senator on the exact number. We have two different programmes - one for new writers and one called "screenplay development" for established writers who already have a credit.

They can get direct funding to continue writing a piece of work they want to pursue. We also launched a programme, the Voice, with the Screen Directors Guild of Ireland, another round of which we are looking to bring back later this year. That is a programme where directors can get funded to work on something, taking it from an idea through to concept development so it is ready to go to the first stage of development. The directors can do that themselves and then bring it to a production company or producer to take forward to the next stage of development. It is something we are very passionate about.

We are looking at a review of our development and production funding streams at present. We have 43 different funding streams across various areas, including marketing and distribution, inward production and skills development but, as the Senator said, that area of supporting screenwriters, directors and artists directly is something that is very important for us to build the industry. As an agency, we have hundreds of projects that are being supported in active stages of development. Some of them are in partnership with RTÉ, TG4 and the other broadcasters, and some with a variety of different partners. On that focus on development, we have increased our funding for development over recent years. As I said, we are actively looking to capitalise on the recent success and ensuring we are as ambitious as we possibly can be for the sector in terms of our development levels. We have had exceptional support from the Minister, Deputy Martin, for the funding levels for Screen Ireland and ensuring they are directed towards building, as the Senator said, that creative base of artists. We have seen the success globally. We just want to ensure we are doing that at the right levels.