Mr. Cathal Gaffney:

I want to talk a little about Animation Ireland and I have some recommendations that might help with today's theme. Animation Ireland is the voice of the Irish animation sector. Our core objective is to establish Ireland as a creative centre for content and technology by focusing on growth, developing an innovation culture and creating competitive advantage for members. We have three core mandates, namely, increasing jobs, exports, licensing and commercial investment; maintaining and increasing an international profile; and increasing funding for production and development.

Irish animation is well known internationally and Ireland is considered to be one of the top three countries in the world for producing animation. Our membership includes some companies with which committee members may be familiar. We have a wide variety of members and we meet frequently. Unless members have three or four year olds at home, they may not be familiar with the work we have produced, but last year over 100 million children around the world watched programmes that were made in Ireland. Many of these programmes are household names for four year olds but probably not familiar to those in this room.

Animation Ireland is a group of leading Irish animation companies working together to promote Ireland's world-class sector internationally. We work closely with Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Film Board. CEOs of animation and visual effects, VFX, studios collaborate in a structured way to scale the industry for the next stage of international growth. Animation and visual effects companies are market-driven, and exports account for 90% of turnover, with a 30% increase in exports from 2011 to 2012. Unfortunately, I do not have more up-to-date statistics than that, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the industry is experiencing great growth. Animation and VFX companies define the smart economy.

Our business is export sales and technology-driven. It exploits intellectual property and provides full-time careers in growing companies. The animation and visual effects sector has experienced substantial growth in the past five years, emerging as a central component of Ireland's digital and creative economy. Animation created in Ireland is viewed in more than 120 countries worldwide today. Last year over 100 million children throughout the world watched programmes made by Irish studios.

We work closely with VFX Association Ireland. Throughout the animation and visual effects sector there is a high level of technology research and development. It is a core competency of our members and gives us an international competitive advantage with technically sophisticated 2D and 3D pipelines. Visual effects include the smoke, explosions and so on that we see in films and high-end television.

The animation and visual effects industry represents 60% of worldwide box office takings in the past five years. It is the fastest-growing sector in the UK film production industry. Animation and visual effects companies employ young specialist graduates who are highly paid for high-technology and highly skilled work. We take many graduates from the college in Ballyfermot and various other colleges. Visual effects is a form of digital content production that shares the same technology, skill set and creative talents as animation and games. We use technology to tell stories. We talked about storytelling earlier. Visual effects is all about technology.

Animation in Ireland has considerable potential. The sector has shown leadership and growth. With some changes in policy, we firmly believe we can double employment numbers within the next three years. Ireland can become a global hub for animation and visual effects production. I will illustrate this with an anecdote. In the past 12 months we set up a studio in Manchester, where we employ 40 people. We did that because we could not get staff in Ireland. We have had to expand overseas. We also have a studio in America, but for different reasons. Animation studios are export-based and market-facing companies that demonstrate the ability to become international companies of scale.

Children's television shapes their view of the world. Irish children should have the same right to high-quality programmes as their parents. This could lead to a strong domestic business. Opportunities lie in the area of exploiting intellectual property across all screen platforms, provided support mechanisms are not biased towards any one particular channel to market.

I am keen to make several recommendations. The first relates to training. The whole presentation could be on training, because this is one of the largest areas that has an impact on our members in animation and visual effects. I mean no disrespect to the great work that the colleges are doing, but the industry has outstripped the demand. We are growing at too fast a pace for the colleges to possibly catch up. Therefore, we need to develop an industry growth plan with measurable and accountable targets. We need to develop structured training initiatives such as technology apprenticeships and graduate placements. We need to develop digital and media literacy programmes in schools. There is a great deal more we could do, but those are the headlines. Simple arrangements such as co-production treaties are free to arrange. We need to increase the amount of co-production treaties in as many countries as possible, just as we have tax treaties.

I circulated the Creative Capital report before the meeting and I recommend that people review it. It has a fantastic series of recommendations, although, unfortunately, they have not been acted upon, by and large. A review of the Creative Capital report would show how many of the recommendations could be helpful in increasing employment and delivering a stronger audiovisual industry.

There is potential in the area of broadcasting support. We are keen to see an amendment to the Broadcasting Act that requires RTE to spend a given minimum amount of its independent commissioning budget on programmes for children. We understand the figure is less than 3%, but 25% of our population are young people. This could deliver a stronger domestic market and give Irish children the opportunity to consume more Irish-themed content.

I am not finished yet. We need to build companies of scale. A rising tide lifts all boats. We are keen to see a formal strategic plan between Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Film Board to support export-based companies of scale.

We have one State agency giving funding to content, and another to content companies, with no formal strategic alignment. Broadcasters and agencies need to support slate development and production. Part of the problem with the overall audiovisual industry is that it is piecemeal - we start one project at a time. A greater emphasis on slate production and slate development would change that. We have a fantastic audiovisual tax credit through section 481, which is doing very well and providing a great return on investment. We need to look at extending the technology research and development tax credit to include content research and development. I suggest we should also support convergence between the audiovisual industry and the gaming industry. We need to measure and record. Many opinions are expressed when we are talking about this sector, but we should commission a report that will measure the actual value of the content industry.  More evidence is needed to illustrate the return on investment and the contribution to Irish GDP delivered by animation, visual effects and the wider audiovisual sector. On the question of agency support, we need to bear in mind that channels to market have evolved since 1980. The Irish Film Board Act 1980 established a dedicated agency with a mandate to support feature films. It is fair to say that the industry has changed significantly since then. It is a screen board. We should not have an agency that primarily supports one particular channel to market. I thank the committee.