Ms Susan Kirby:

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I thank the committee for the invitation to appear here today to discuss the importance of the online safety and media regulation Bill to the Irish independent production sector, and wider creative sector.

With more than 130 company members, Screen Producers Ireland, SPI, is recognised as the voice of independent audiovisual production in Ireland. SPI members are creative entrepreneurs who produce globally celebrated film, animation and television, creating high-value, all-island and regionally spread employment, fostering Ireland's media education ecosystem along with preserving Ireland's artistic heritage.

The Olsberg report of 2018 estimated the gross value added, GVA, of film, television, TV, and animation production in Ireland in 2016 at €692 million, with full-time equivalent employment at in excess of 11,960 jobs. No doubt these numbers have grown since then.

In this statement we want to focus on the audiovisual media services, AVMS, directive content levy provisions. The AVMS directive now allows EU member states to place financial obligations on audiovisual media service providers such as pay TV services like Sky and streaming video on demand, SVOD, services like Netflix. These financial obligations include levies and investment obligations. We welcome head 76 of the proposed Bill, which introduces a levy, and head 77 of the proposed Bill, which provides for the setting up of schemes to administer the proceeds of the levy to fund film and television projects.

In 2019, the chair of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, said:

The existing regulatory structure and funding model require an overhaul. As part of that overhaul, ways need to be found to ensure providers who take revenue from the Irish market give something back in return, in terms of appropriate content or otherwise.

Last week in this committee, the major Irish broadcasters – RTÉ, Virgin Media and TG4 - all spoke in favour of bringing in the levy which we feel is important to recognise here today.

As we set out in our pre-legislative scrutiny submission, we believe these issues can be dealt with through the implementation of the AVMS directive without delay. Levies at a minimum of 3% to 4% should be applied to pay TV and video on demand, VOD, services turnover and to television advertising, including opt-out advertising, on services targeting Irish audiences. A commencement date for the levy's collection is set in the legislation. This date should be 1 January 2023. This should mean the revenue from the levy could be shared with Irish content makers from 2023. The BAI should hire a specialist staff member without delay to begin work on the levy as part of its transitionary work from the BAI to the media commission and to work on the collection system for the levy and on the administration of the production fund.

Crucially, all applications to the fund should be done through an independent Irish production company to ensure the investment is spent on original Irish content and supports original content creation by Irish creatives. Intellectual property, IP, ownership should be retained with the Irish producer as a condition of the fund.

We would ask that the committee members strongly consider including these recommendations in their report to the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media on the legislation. Introducing the content levy without delay will create new funding possibilities for Irish producers to create original Irish content for Irish audiences and increase the amount of Irish stories online without any additional cost to the Exchequer.