Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their amendments, which seek to amend the provisions of the Bill relating to the content production levy and schemes. As the committee will be aware, Article 13.2 of the AVMSD provides an explicit legal basis for member states to levy media service providers that are under their jurisdiction or that are not under their jurisdiction but are targeting audiences in their territories for the purpose of funding European works. I have opted to take the opportunity offered by Article 13.2 of the directive to provide for the imposition of a content production levy on media service providers to fund content production schemes to support the production of European works.

There was a lengthy debate on Committee Stage in the Seanad on both the content production levy and the scheme provisions of the Bill. I committed then to return to consider a number of matters on the Dáil debate on the Bill. In particular, I committed to examine whether express provision could be made to ensure that development activities could be funded through a scheme; to examine whether a certain minimum proportion of funds paid out under a scheme could be ring-fenced for "independent production companies"; and to examine whether provision could be made in respect of the allocation of rights ownership between independent production companies and media service providers. The Deputies have raised those three issues in their amendments and I intend to address them on Report Stage. In addition, as I indicated during the debate in the Seanad, I expect that coimisiún na meán and Screen Ireland will work closely together with a view to maximising the potential of content production schemes.

Turning to the detail of the Deputies' amendments, amendment No. 309 seeks to require coimisiún na meán to impose a content production levy as soon as is practicable after establishment day. As I have said previously, it would not be prudent or advisable to impose a levy until a comprehensive study has been undertaken into the incidence, design and prospective revenue of any content production levy. That will allow coimisiún na mean to identify any unintended consequences that may arise from the levy and to outline clearly whether and how the incidence of the levy will ultimately fall on audiences and consumers of audiovisual media services. Given the many additional questions about the content production levy that coimisiún na meán will need to answer, I cannot accept the amendment.

I understand that amendment No. 310 seeks to address a drafting error in the Bill, as published. It is an intention of the Bill that a content production scheme should be open to all prospective producers of European works. This error came to the attention of my officials shortly after the Bill was published and it was intended to address the issue when other Government amendments to the content production scheme were brought forward. Accordingly, while I do not intend to accept the Deputies' amendment today, I will table a Report Stage amendment to correct the error.

I understand that the intention of amendment No. 311 is to ensure that funds provided under a content production scheme may be used to support "development" activities relating to a production. At present, section 159F(2)(d) of the Broadcasting Act, as inserted by the Bill, specifies a number of development activities that can be supported under a scheme. My preferred approach would be to amend that paragraph to provide absolute clarity that all stages of the development of an audiovisual programme may be funded under a scheme. I cannot, then, accept this amendment but will seek to clarify further on Report Stage that a content production scheme may include funding for development activities.

Amendment No. 312 sets out additional detail in respect of the nature of programmes that could be funded under a scheme. It is unnecessary to specify that a content production scheme may fund feature films, animation, drama and documentaries. Section 159F(2) provides that a scheme may fund the production of audiovisual programmes, which captures all types of audiovisual content, including drama, films, animation and factual programmes.

Amendment No. 312 also provides that a content production scheme would specifically support works that relate to the works of Irish creative talent. As I noted during Report Stage in the Seanad, the outstanding and defining quality of such works would appear to be that they are produced by, or involve the work of, Irish citizens. This carries the implication that those of Irish nationality would be given preference in any funding provided through a content production scheme. This would appear to be contrary to EU law as it would, on the face of it, place Irish citizens at an advantage over citizens or residents of other member states as regards a content production scheme and, therefore, I cannot accept the amendment.

Amendment No. 313 seeks to amend a description of the kinds of audiovisual programmes that may be funded under a scheme by qualifying a reference to the experiences of the people of the island of Ireland such that it refers to "storytelling" experiences. The relevant paragraph of the Bill is intended to encompass experiences in the most expansive sense to facilitate the funding of the widest array of content. The effect of the proposed amendment would be to restrict the types of content that could be funded and, therefore, I do not intend to accept it.

Amendment No. 314 seeks to require that 80% of the funding under a content production scheme would be ring-fenced for "independent production companies" and to provide for the prescription of a fair and equitable balance in rights ownership. Although I do not intend to accept the amendment, I intend to table an amendment on Report Stage to provide for the ring-fencing of a certain proportion of funding for independent production companies. I am also examining the question of providing that coimisiún na meán could make a certain allocation of rights ownership a requirement for receipt of funding under the scheme.

I thank the Deputies for their engagement and their amendments. Our positions on a number of the matters discussed are quite close. I look forward to tabling amendments to address those issues on Report Stage and to the debate that will ensue then.