Ms Mary Nash:

The Deputy talked about the sustainability of the industry. That is important from the point of view of environmental sustainability but also from the perspective of equality and inclusion.

In fact, we had a forum today on that very issue. There probably were 20 different organisations involved. As I said earlier, the open hiring practices have built year on year, with crew calls becoming commonplace. One of the issues with the old system is that minorities and new communities do not have those connections. Placements for people from ethnic minorities or disadvantaged backgrounds have steadily increased, with 2022 having the highest numbers of productions providing those placements. That would suggest that people who are not known or who are without the right connections are getting into the industry.

Supports and accommodation for those with disabilities have increased and are more commonly considered now. Productions in Ireland have more diversity represented on screen. Many companies have put in place policies addressing gender equality. Screen Ireland has gone deep into that area. Some areas have traditionally been male preserves and have been almost notorious for that. For example, the construction, props and lighting departments would have had very few women. That is slowly changing.

In the area of trainees, we would be interested to hear what the Deputy is hearing, because we are hearing the opposite. There was a suggestion that there are many trainees and very few experienced people. The big, international, well-heeled incoming productions do not want trainees. They want experienced people. If there were many trainees on there and if they could not do the job, they would be out the door very quickly. It would not work.

As Ms Donaghy said, there are two good agreements in place, namely, the shooting crew agreement and the construction crew agreement. They include pensions, dispute resolution and even have a work-life balance mechanism built in. I acknowledge there is a gap in respect of actors who are members of Equity. There are two sides there and some agreement is required. It is a problem for the country and for incoming productions if there is no clear agreement. The incoming productions understand how the shooting crew agreement works. It is clear and they can work out how much it costs and how everything works. No new production wants to be approaching each individual and asking what he or she wants and then negotiating. There is a gap in that regard. It would be in our interests and those of the committee to see that gap filled.