Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We would all like to be associated with those comments. David Puttnam, who is based in west Cork, shared a heartfelt tweet yesterday. That brings me to my last point, which relates to the regional uplift maps. David Puttnam is a well-known and worldwide movie producer and moviemaker. I am glad that Mr. Hickey mentioned the regional uplift maps because they are absolutely out of date and not fit for purpose. I make a plea to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Those maps need to be rectified to better reflect the regions. There are whole swathes of the country left out of the regional uplift whereby productions can get a tax credit, which makes it far more attractive to make a movie or a television programme in an area. The entire county of Cork, my home county, has been left out. Kerry is included. That is not to say that Kerry should not be included, just that Cork should also be included. Parts of Limerick are included but Clare is not. It is ridiculous. I appeal to the Department to review those maps. There is an incredible opportunity for Ireland to capitalise on the extraordinary success of the past couple of years. It is not just this year. This year we struck gold in terms of Oscar nominations. However, for years, a body of extraordinary Irish work has been building. It came to fruition this year.

Taking the example of west Cork, I already mentioned David Puttnam. The area is also sometimes home to Jeremy Irons, Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal. They are not even the most important part of what could make west Cork an unbelievable place to make movies and television programmes. It is home to a plethora of incredible, skilled people who work in movies and television, namely, set designers, make-up artists, production managers and location managers. Everything is there. However, it is difficult to be competitive when the entire area is outside of the uplift region. I am glad to hear the comments on the fact that regions should be realigned. I absolutely agree with that. We need to get places like counties Cork and Clare included on the regional uplift map to make them competitive.

There is an exciting project in Skibbereen. West Cork Film Studios are putting together an extraordinary, talented and skilled workforce within the television and movie sector. These people live in west Cork, the area I talked about in the context of attracting movie productions. What is happening will attract movie and other productions. We have already seen the likes of “Holding” and “The Sparrow”. I could list them off. It will happen, but it would be so much easier if the regional uplift maps were amended. I just wanted to make that point.