Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The picture I am getting from people working in the industry is not a good one. I am hearing that the requirement under section 481 for quality of employment and training opportunities is not the case. I do not know how this has gone on for so long, given that section 481 has been in place for quite a long time and quite a lot of money has been dispensed. I met someone recently who was a trainee for 12 years. That is not acceptable. That is an abuse of the category of trainee.

Quality employment, in my mind, cannot be defined as a hire-them-and-fire-them workforce where, at the end of every production, regardless of how long a person has worked in the industry, how many different productions they have worked on and what their level of skills are, there is no obligation whatsoever to take somebody back when the next production starts. If that person has been asking questions about health and safety issues, pay issues or conditions on the set, there is no obligation to take him or her back. There are allegations that this is happening. I do not know how widespread it is but I do not believe there is smoke without fire. The witnesses will no doubt say that the industry generally is not like that and perhaps that is true. I am simply saying that if those allegations are being made, I do not believe they are totally made up.