Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Noonan. I agree entirely with everything he said. I recently had cause to be in Los Angeles on a trade mission led by Screen Ireland where it was abundantly clear to me that Ireland - and Kilkenny - is highly regarded in animation. At the opening of the Ireland presence in Osaka, the Senator will be glad to know Cartoon Saloon was very much to the fore. Oona, Ireland’s mascot for Expo 2025 in Osaka, was developed by Cartoon Saloon so there was a very prominent place for the studio.

Regarding animation and further work in this area, it is my intention to look at the board of Screen Ireland in the not-too-distant future. The board of Screen Ireland is too small, to be frank.

It will require a legislative change, and I will be back to the committee on this. Animation and gaming will form part of a reconstituted board, giving advice to the people the Senator is after seeing. There is quite an overlap – it became very clear to me when I was in the United States – between animation and gaming. Gaming is a gigantic industry. Trillions of dollars are now being spent on an annual basis. For animators in Ireland coming out, highly skilled and highly professional in their own right, there is a great opportunity for them. The policy platform around gaming will be led by our Department. We need a vehicle then to be able to deliver it. That will be Screen Ireland, and Screen Ireland is up for it. As late as yesterday its representatives were with me in Wicklow, in Ashford and Ardmore. The pipeline is strong.

Section 481 is very important. There was recently the scéal uplift, which is an additional uplift on section 481 for productions under €20 million. We have also seen European Commission approval for unscripted. Unscripted has enormous potential. I saw it myself in Limerick, where a television show comes in from the United States of America and it brings in everything. It brings in the contestants. The sets and everything are built locally. The series is filmed in front of a live audience and broadcast to a global audience.

We have had many wins in the recent past. There was a previous regional uplift for five years. It probably came at a difficult time, with Covid and everything else, and the industry went into mothballs. I note discussions with the Department of public expenditure and reform. Certain elements of spending for the arts, film, cinema, sport and communications are on our radar. One of the big tax issues for the budget will be section 481 – the consolidation of it and, if possible, the expansion of it.