Michael Conaghan (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Minister of State to keep a sharper eye on small craft industries which sometimes go unnoticed. One such industry started in a prefab in a VEC school in Ballyfermot 14 years ago and was the beginning of the modern film animation industry. It has now been to Hollywood on four occasions for the Oscars. There are other people in creative categories who may need to put their heads over the water.

We must let the people involved in those types of small-scale initiatives know there are supports and funding available to assist them. I was on the board of that school at the time the project was launched. Initiatives like that can be multiplied several times, as I am sure is happening throughout the country, but they need recognition and support from the beginning. We must keep a sharper eye out for those types of creative efforts. It would be enormously encouraging for those involved if somebody could reach out to them at an early stage in their development and offer a small grant or other types of support.