Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to the overall concept of this and then make a number of comments. First, I welcome the changes the Minister is making in respect of the cap. That is a positive for the future of the sector. While everybody here might argue over different parts of it, we all agree with the concept of section 481 and increasing the cap, putting money into film production and trying to encourage more into it to make it more sustainable. We all want a greater win for Ireland out of that and for the permanent presence of the sector here to develop the talent and the skills. That is why I also welcome the Minister's other initiative. He mentioned that his officials will begin to work with the EU Commission on an incentive for the unscripted TV production sector, which, again, copper-fastens the opportunity to develop the skill and the talent in the whole creative sector and the creative productions industry sector. That is important, because what we are trying to find by means of these various opportunities and incentives is a way to guarantee more work for those involved in the sector, that is, more long-term and more guaranteed work, not just one production and then people might be out of work for a period and hope to be re-employed at some point.

If we can develop the overall sector - the film industry, television production, animation and all the other parts of that sector - there will be more work for everybody and more opportunities for Irish SMEs to develop their talents, grow and expand. That is to be welcomed.

It is absolutely essential that anybody employed in the sector is treated properly. We have a very proud tradition in Ireland that no matter what sector it is, we have very strong employment regulation and employment laws. Questions are being raised here. I listened to some of the debate here yesterday and today, and previously on the report as well. There are issues that need to be investigated, checked out and tightened up so that if there is any truth in any of the claims, it cannot happen again. We would all agree with that. I have sympathy for the comments the Minister made last night. This has to be solved across a number of Departments. Enforcement and monitoring are needed to make sure everything is right. There are many positive stories as well.

There is certainly merit in having the stakeholder forum because it straddles a number of Departments and agencies. There was talk last night about employment rights and conditions in this sector. The Minister referred to the collective bargaining arrangements that are there. As I mentioned to Deputy Nash, we should look at a joint labour committee for this sector to bring all the stakeholders together and work with the Labour Court on developing employment regulation orders, EROs, for the sector. There would then be equal treatment throughout the sector and there would be standard terms and conditions, regardless of what the company is or who the employer is. The Minister's Department will not be leading this. It will come through the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. It has worked extremely well in many other sectors.

There is an opportunity here. If we are all committed to developing a sustainable creative sector with long-term jobs and opportunities, this is how we should bring all this together to guarantee the terms and conditions and to make sure everybody involved gets a fair share. There is an opportunity. Ireland has done well for a long number of years with investment in this area. There is an opportunity to grow talent, but there is much more opportunity to build on that by having high-quality jobs and by bringing home people who are working in the sector overseas to avail of the opportunities here. I recently met representatives of many new Irish companies who see the opportunities in the film sector but also in the television production and script sector. There are many opportunities. I looked at the numbers in one production recently. My understanding is that of the 250 Irish-based employees, less than 40 had come in from other countries to work on the production. That is really positive but we have to make sure they are on top-class terms and conditions. I believe in that case they were. We need to make sure of that in any situation. That is the balance we want. There are many people living and working in Ireland in this sector. We need to develop their talents. That is what the aim should be for all of us. That opportunity is there. I welcome the changes the Minister is making to the capping, and also the announcement on the unscripted sector. The overall area can benefit. There is no doubt that all of us want top-class quality terms and conditions here.

On the copyright directive, there is room for more scrutiny. I was involved in the past. There is an issue around the control. Everybody involved has to have a fair share. From an Irish point of view, there is more work to be done to make sure the directive is used properly for everyone's benefit. It was a European directive. In my view, not many people here got involved in the consultation when it was coming through and being recognised in Irish law. There is an opportunity, not necessarily in this Bill, to look at that again to make sure it is being maximised for everyone's benefit and is being used correctly so that people are not being asked to sign away their rights too easily. I understand there is a balance to be reached between those who put the money up for a production and the share for employees, but it has to be balanced right. Let us get that right. We could look at that again. It is too big a discussion for this Bill but it is certainly something we could look at again. There is still an opportunity in an Irish context to look at the directive again and work through it.