Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses and apologise for being late in to the meeting. I am going to be parochial as well. I am from the midlands, not from the south. We would not be famed for our television or film industries. However, we have two very successful young lads who I know, Patrick McGivney and Robert Higgins from Harp Media. They have made a fantastic name for themselves nationally and internationally with their work. The film "Lakelands" was made in and premiered in my neck of the woods in north Longford. They took a chance on doing it at the time. They did not have significant financial supports to do something like that in the midlands. Many of the grants in place at the time seemed to be biased towards certain other areas of the country. This made it very difficult for anyone to put on a production in the midlands area.

I know that a new scheme has been introduced recently that I cannot recall the name of. This scheme has changed things and opened up further opportunities. I ask the witnesses to expand on that scheme. I have a couple of questions. What knock-on effects has the situation at RTÉ had on the industry? During Covid the Backstage Theatre in Longford reimagined a lot of the things that were happening. It also introduced internships. Robert and Patrick came in and did that in the Backstage Theatre. Perhaps this could be expanded on around the country. It could bring students from schools in or it could work on a schools' programme to get more people interested in the industry. It would encourage people to want to get in to the industry. That follows on to another question. Deputy Griffin mentioned Kerry College. Are there sufficient course available in the various universities around the country to service the industry with qualified people?