Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Bergin and Ms Finnegan for their presentation. Ms Bergin said that the priorities for the board during her tenure as chair are capturing the share of the inward international production market, as well as training and skills. I am glad to hear that. The content creation industry is a trillion-dollar industry. In the UK it accounts for 7% to 8% of GDP and over Covid, one thing we have seen is a rapid growth in the demand for content in various forms. I read recently that the average American consumer subscribes to four different streaming services. I do not think that is quite the case here yet but we are moving in that direction. I ask Ms Bergin to paint a picture of the course of her term, looking to 2025 and beyond. Between construction and planning, we are going to have between 1 million sq. ft and 1.5 million sq. ft of studio space based here in Ireland over the next few years so there will be huge potential there. I want Ms Bergin to be ambitious. In 2025, what is the potential for Ireland in terms of what we can capture among the international content creation space, film, television, animation and other areas? On the skills side, where are those skilled staff going to come from? Who is going to drive that ambition? Will it come through Screen Ireland, or what agencies will be specifically responsible for that? What does Screen Ireland expect the Government to do? How can we assist in order to achieve that? We have a good content creation industry here. I would argue that we are perhaps not sufficiently ambitious given the opportunities but I would like to hear Ms Bergin's ambition.