Ms Susan Kirby:

I would be delighted to speak on it. In terms of screen tourism, a huge amount of work is happening in the space of what I consider Ireland's outward-facing agencies. They are collaborating together not just on screen tourism but across the whole gamut. There is a huge amount of collaboration and work happening between Tourism Ireland, Screen Ireland, the IDA and Creative Ireland looking at how we create a sense of destination and place and leverage screen tourism.

Ireland is familiar with screen tourism from "The Quiet Man" to more contemporary expressions of Ireland, but there is still a significant potential. We are keenly aware of the fact that this committee covers some of the most challenging briefs in terms of the areas most impacted by Covid, for example, tourism. There is considerable potential to create and leverage tourism, including screen tourism. We are open to collaborating. I have had initial conversations with Tourism Ireland about how to achieve that and how Screen Producers Ireland might feed into it. Tourism Ireland has released some funding for producing content. While it has not been able to go out into the market and promote, it can promote Ireland through storytelling and documentaries-as a means of placeholding so that, when people can travel again, Ireland is on their bucket lists for the following reasons: the beautiful scenery, the wonderful people, the urban and the rural. Tourism Ireland has done a super job of that despite the challenges of Covid over the past year.

That notwithstanding, I maintain that there is a large untapped potential. I am keen to see not just large inward-bound productions being the expression of Ireland. Instead, this fund could support Irish storytelling in the creative sector that is meaningful and attracts domestic and international tourists to the country. It is as much about saying that we must put Lahinch or Sligo on the list for ourselves as for international travellers, although I recognise that the return of international travel will be far more significant for the economy.

Considerable work has been done, but as the saying goes, "Lots done, more to do". That is my analysis of where we stand with screen tourism. The committee could consider how to leverage screen tourism further to the benefit of our indigenous sector, as well as of the wider economy. Does that answer the Chair's question?