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

We have discussed at length over the past number of years the section 481 tax relief. I want to thank the Minister for his genuine engagement on the issues I have raised over the past few years on behalf of film crew in particular working in the film industry but in terms of the issues I have highlighted there is still a long way to go to resolve them. I want to qualify my comments by saying that over recent years it has been a central part of our campaign in People Before Profit to increase overall funding to the arts. We would not want to see a penny less - in fact, we would like to see much more - put into the arts, music, live entertainment, film and so on to support those issues and because we have an immense pool of talent in this country.

There is, however, a problem with section 481. On foot of the discussions we had, the Minister introduced a declaration that producer companies had to sign in which they committed to adhere to all of the relevant employment legislation and took direct responsibility for employment and training, as is required under the Taxes Consolidation Act to obtain section 481 relief for providing quality employment and training. Even as we speak, however, and despite the welcome reforms introduced by the Minister, these film producer companies are still claiming in cases before the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court that they are not the employer when people who worked on productions try to claim their employment rights.

I am amazed at how brazen they are that they continue to do this despite the undertaking the Minister requires them to sign which explicitly states that producer companies must take responsibility for employment and training to comply with EU directives and employment law. The Minister's declaration is detailed. It refers to the need for producer companies to comply with the terms of the Employment Acts, the Health and Safety Acts, the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003, the Organisation of Working Time Act, the Employment Equality Acts, the Payment of Wages Act and the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act, as is right and proper, and EU law relating to collective agreements and all of these types of protections for workers. The declaration is very comprehensive and these producer companies that are getting in the region of €80 million per year in section 481 relief are signing these declarations and then going into the Labour Court and saying they are not the employer of the people who work on those film productions but that the designated activity company, DAC, is the employer. Even though they acknowledge in their submissions that the DAC is associated with them, they still claim they are not the employer and the people working for the DAC are not their employees but are the employees of the DAC. To refresh the Minister's memory on this, it is the producer company that applies for the tax relief, which is an advance payment, as he is aware. It is one of these unusual tax reliefs where the company gets the money up front. The producer company applies for section 481 and gets certified for it based on filling out one of these declarations. However, it then goes into the Labour Court and says it is not the employer and that the people working on the film production named in that declaration are not its employees but are employees of a DAC. Something must be done about this.

To back up my argument, I will cite a case. I will not mention the film producer but it is a well known one that receives large amounts of section 481 every year. I have already referred to the Minister's declaration. In a submission to the Labour Court recently, the producer stated that certain claims were raised on behalf of a number of individuals who were previously engaged on productions associated with the respondent.

It was claimed that neither the complainant nor any of the claimants were employees of the respondent. The submission went on to state that by way of background construction workers such as the complainant were engaged by designated activity companies set up specifically for each production if, and when, commissioned. It stated there were no employment contracts with the respondent and any employment relationship existed between the employee and the specific designated activity company. As such, each designated activity company was the employer and there was no continuity of service where an individual was employed by different designated activity companies.

It is clear from submissions to the Labour Court that a producer company getting section 481 on the specific grounds it is responsible for employment is then going to the State bodies charged with ensuring workers' rights are upheld and stating it is not the employer. It is getting this money from the State on the basis it is the employer and it is solely responsible for the employees, and then it is going to the Labour Court and stating it is not the employer and that it has no responsibility for these employees. I appeal to the Minister to address this.

I want to give him credit for attempting to address this, and he has brought in reforms, but these film producer companies are just not doing what he is asking them to do. The consequence is that laws that protect workers and the rights they have, not just under national law but under European law, particularly legislation on fixed-term workers and recognition of service and EU directives in this regard, is that fixed-term workers should not enjoy conditions less favourable than those employed on a permanent basis. These are just being flouted. These rights are not being acknowledged for these workers. As a consequence, the production companies that have employed them, in some cases for decades, can simply deny any connection with them and any employment relationship with them and, consequently, deny them their rights as employees under law. This is the case I really want the Minister to look at. I believe the Minister should proactively go out and have these matters investigated, and if it is found that companies are doing this, they should be told to stop and that they will not get the money unless they start to acknowledge they are the employers. If they continue in this manner of flouting the law on section 481, they should have the section 481 money taken off them or not given to them.