Ms Elaine Geraghty:

The first three years were very busy, with almost 95% occupancy but there has only been about 5% occupancy in the past two years. I do not want to over-egg what everybody has said already but we need big, incoming international productions because we have a lot of space to fill. It is not that we do not welcome lots of productions. I would love to have two local productions, side by side. That would be absolutely great. If a big, international production is to make a decision not to go the more traditional areas of Dublin and Wicklow, it will ask what the tax break is like and the answer is that it is very good. It will ask if there was anything available for regional production and the answer is that there was but there is not any longer. It will ask what its costs will be if it does not go to a place where it knows it can access most of the crew. It is worth saying this again because that just adds costs to the bottom line, no matter what we say. Crews have developed but not enough, in terms of what that ultimate budget looks like. Equally, in some cases there are questions about getting away from Dublin and trying Limerick or Cork. That is a conversation but there is a certain element of risk in terms of the big urban areas. There are lots of factors that feed into decisions to go to a particular place but mostly it is pinpointed on what it is going to cost to do business there. I am not sure the Deputy was here earlier when I spoke about a small production that was in with us. The additional cost for it to be there and to film for two months was 8% on the bottom line. We try not to be negative about this. The first thing I talk to people about when I get the call is Troy. It is the first position. We have people working in Ardmore and they want to be there, and so on. We are doing our best but ultimately it is down to cost right now and the availability of experienced crew.