Mr. James Hickey:

The Irish Film Board has a dual role of encouraging the culture of film making - including supporting Irish creative talent such as writers, directors, actors, designers, editors, animators and visual effects supervisors in the making of feature films, TV drama and TV animation - and developing the industry for the production of film and all forms of screen content in Ireland. This is a dual role involving culture and industry. Production of film and screen content is an expression of culture and creativity on the one hand, and an industrial activity creating significant levels of economic activity and employment on the other. In the film and audiovisual content space, the Irish Film Board in effect is the equivalent of the Arts Council, Enterprise Ireland and the IDA.

In 2015, the Irish Film Board provided funding for 15 feature films with Irish writers and directors at the helm. These include "Brooklyn", based on the novel by Colm Tóibín, "Sing Street", directed by John Carney, who gave us the wonderful film "Once", now a stage play visiting Dublin, and "Glassland" directed by Gerard Barrett, which has received positive press reviews and public acclamation and stars Toni Collette and Jack Reynor. It is a wonderful film which I think is still on release - I recommend the committee members go to see it.

The Irish Film Board also provided funding for 11 creative co-productions, including "The Lobster", a film shot in the area of Kenmare and the Parknasilla hotel in County Kerry. The great news from our point of view is that this is in the competition in the Cannes Film Festival for 2015 and as such is one of 14 films on a world stage. This is great or the Irish film industry.

We also supported four animated TV series, four feature documentaries, two TV drama series and 11 short films as well as the cinema distribution of 18 films for which we had provided production funding - all of this on €9 million. We have made enormous efforts with the funding we have in order to make sure that as much production as possible takes place. I think 15 feature films and 11 creative co-productions is a significant level of production activity in itself.

In addition to funding films originating from Ireland, the Irish Film Board also has a role in respect of foreign direct investment and bringing production to Ireland. We want to encourage people to locate production here, including foreign direct investment in major feature films, TV drama series and TV animation. The main promotional tool incentivising inward investment is the section 481 tax incentive, which has been extended and improved with effect from 1 January, 2015. The Irish Film Board is working with the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the Department of Finance on a review of the regime to see what additional changes could best be made, including whether the €50 million cap currently in place should be increased to attract larger-budget feature films and TV drama series. It is worth mentioning that this cap has been affected by the dramatic shift in exchange rates - €50 million is a reduced figure from what it was a year ago in an economy that mostly deals in dollars and sterling.

We have been working over the past year to 18 months to encourage initiatives from the Government to develop film studios. There are challenging issues in respect of how best to do this but we are strongly supportive of the need for additional film studio space. It is a significant obstacle to the growth of film and TV drama production in Ireland and should at this stage be a major priority. The Irish Film Board is working with the Department of the Taoiseach's expert group under the Action Plan for Jobs. The Taoiseach himself has taken an interest in this matter and set up a committee made up of representatives from the Department of Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation, the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the Irish Film Board, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. Existing studios and interested parties have already been referred to the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, the Government funding entity that has come out of the National Treasury Management Agency and which is doing very interesting work funding various projects across the Irish economy. It is also available for potential funding for film studios. We are also working on issues like local authority rates, liabilities, planning charges and other funding mechanisms.

In addition to our roles funding indigenous production and encouraging foreign direct investment and film studio development, we are also involved in training and education through Screen Training Ireland. The Irish Film Board took over the running of Screen Training Ireland in 2013 and is currently working at training initiatives across creativity, technical skills and entrepreneurship. Courses promoted include "screen leaders", which encourages screen entrepreneurs, and animation and visual effects training courses. It is working with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland on a strategy for training over the next five years.

The Irish Film Board's total funding for last year and this year was €11.2 million plus administration costs. The difference between the €9 million and the €11 million is the costs of training and the €0.5 million contribution we have to make annually to a European co-production fund called Eurimages. This figure of €11.2 million is down from the €20 million we received in 2008. This funding is provided across development, production, distribution and training.

The Irish Film Board has just completed a widespread consultation with industry stakeholders, including Departments, State agencies, industry representative bodies, guilds and unions, regarding a proposed five-year strategy for the Irish Film Board. We must look to the next five years and consider where we see it all going. There is enormous potential in the Irish screen industries. In the earlier session, there was a suggestion about rebranding the Irish Film Board as "screen Ireland" which would chime with what has happened on the international stage. For example, the equivalent entity in Northern Ireland is called Northern Ireland Screen and Screen Australia is another example of an agency which is very similar to our own with the word "screen" in the title. The Government is considering this. Having undertaken the consultation process, we are continuing by developing a five-year strategy. As Mr. Stokes pointed out, the turnover of audiovisual production is approximately €500 million to €600 million. It could, and will, grow to €1 billion by 2019, increasing direct employment from at least 6,000 to 7,000 to at least 10,000.

Mr Stokes made a point about the number of people employed in music compared with film. I have an interest in that I am indirectly involved in the music business. The film business has calculated its job numbers by including everyone who works with musicians as opposed to the people directly involved in creating music. If the film business did likewise, it would include people who work in cinemas, DVD outlets and in the non-production sites, for example, television broadcasting. With this method, we would probably count 9,000 people working in film.

The opportunities are huge. We are part of the cultural and creative industries, in which Europe believes very strongly. There are European initiatives regarding the creative and cultural industries which hold that their growth potential, particularly for youth employment, is enormous over the next five years. The European Union believes it should be strongly supported and it should be commended to us all.