Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate Mr. O'Herlihy again on his impending, I hope, appointment as chairman of the Irish Film Board. He is eminently qualified for the role and I wish him every success. Like Senator Mac Conghail, I am declaring my interest in that I am a director of a film company. I am not entirely sure and cannot recall the level of funding we might have received in the past from the IFB but that is probably because the amount was so small.

Following on from Deputy Corcoran Kennedy's remarks, there is a vital film sector in the regions, it is not exclusive to Dublin, Cork and Galway, as I can verify. The organisation I am involved with managed to access very important PEACE funding to do North-South projects with marginalised young people. Every summer an assumption is made by parents that young people want to get involved in sports camps but that is not everyone's cup of tea. We organise projects like "So You Wanna Make a Movie?", where we extend the film production experience to people who would not ordinarily do that, giving them access to that sort of opportunity. Having engaged young people at that level, some of them have gone on to work in the industry, which is a credit to that approach.

We have a burgeoning film industry at present, much of the credit for which must go to President Higgins and the measures he introduced in the 1990s. The industry, however, is notoriously difficult to get a foothold in for a variety of reasons. If we are to continue to succeed on the international scene and to build the indigenous film industry Senator Mac Conghail referred to, we must prioritise young people coming through the industry, whether they be on the creative or technical sides. Has Mr. O'Herlihy had any chance to consider how the Irish Film Board might go about that critical aspect of the business over the next few years, where it encourages and retains young talent, ensuring we have an indigenous industry for young people coming through the system?

What is of major importance on the agenda of the Irish Film Board is training. Training people so that they develop through the industry. There is a much greater requirement to develop the educational resources for career building and the realities of working in that marketplace. I cannot give members the complete answer to the question, for obvious reasons, because I do not really know. I know that training, education and the creation of a viable industry base in the coming years is a priority for the film board executive.