Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am aware of some of the difficulties Deputy Doherty is referring to but this is the reason Screen Ireland, with the support of the Department of Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, has launched a production continuation fund. This is a pilot initiative which has a €5 million fund to assist production companies to deal with uncertainties that have been caused by Covid-19. I have not received any feedback yet to say that the fund is inadequate to deal with the difficulties the Deputy is referring to but I will follow up on the matter. I have not been briefed on the alleged scale of withdrawal Deputy Doherty raised in his question to me. I understand that the launch of this continuation fund that has just happened is viewed to be a potentially successful response to the issues currently taking place in that sector. It takes place in the context of an increase in total funding for the arts and culture sector of up to €239 million, which is an increase of €56 million versus where they were before this pandemic arrived. The Department has a significant amount of additional funding to support its priorities. That is the reason, through Screen Ireland, the continuation fund has been set up. I will follow up on it between now and Report Stage to see if there is any feedback regarding the adequacy of that scheme. Deputy Doherty has made reference to initiatives that are happening elsewhere. Every government presents the initiatives they are doing in the biggest way they can and that seeks to give them the most positive presentation possible. I believe that our measures, from our wage subsidy scheme to initiatives like the continuation fund and the additional funding that has been made available to the Minister, Deputy Martin, will be sufficient in dealing with the challenges of next year.