Mr. James Hickey:

First of all, what is very important and what we would like to see the fund doing in the future is something the sound and vision fund does not do, namely, fund the development of projects. The research and development investment into creative projects is a hugely important part of what will help the independent production sector in Ireland to develop projects. It must be a new, separate and different fund. The sound and vision fund is very much linked to broadcasters and to the television licence fee because it is a percentage of that fee. This new fund should reflect where the contributions are coming from, which would largely be from the pay TV and subscription services like Sky and Netflix. We want an ambitious fund for higher-end, high quality projects which require the kind of investment that needs to be made. We would also like to see the fund providing development funding for these projects because it is the most difficult money to find. This creates a degree of equality and participation for everybody because it gives independent producers access to money to develop their projects so they can then bring them to the market in a condition which is much more responsive to the way in which international and national funding can provide them with money.

Mention has also been made of making this fund a regional one, a fund based in the regions, as a way of recognising the importance of keeping investment in the regions as a way of moving this forward as well.

They are two suggestions in which I think this group is interested in stating should be part of a new high-quality, highly content-focused fund for the future of Irish creative talent.