Ms Deirdre Donaghy:

I have a long list to go through. Starting from the most recent, the Deputy raised the issues on all Stages as the Finance Act was going through. The Minister is very conscious that these issues have been raised and he has asked us, as we continue to look at the relief this year, working with Revenue on the regulations and guidance notes that accompany it, to take a look at these issues and see what we can do with that. It has to be accepted that the Department of Finance cannot do the only running on this. When it comes to things like training, the Department cannot set out what the training standards are for the film industry. Having said that, we are more than happy to work with representatives of the industry and, to the extent that there can be any common guidelines with the industry, to build those into the criteria of the relief. The relief is administered primarily by Revenue and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. One of the things we did in the Finance Act this year was to split the certification process to require that producer companies come in before main production commences to apply for the culture certificate as part of the application for the relief.

That will allow the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to interact with the producer companies on the training requirements attached to the relief. It ensures the potential exists for early intervention. The other thing happening is the regional uplift introduced this year that is subject to state-aid approval before it commences. That is very specifically tied to qualifying for the relief around training requirements and it applies only to productions in the regions where it can be shown that there are insufficient numbers of skilled crew members available within a certain vicinity of the location in which the production is taking place. The first requirement is to show the shortage of local skills, the second is to show that costs will be incurred in bringing in people from distant areas and the third is to show that local staff have been trained. We are working on the criteria at the moment and will be specific about what the training of local staff will have to entail. The purpose of the uplift, which is there for a short period, is to develop pools of talent outside the existing hubs. That is tied very specifically to training.

I was asked about the numbers employed and that will have come out of the review. The cost-benefit analysis estimates, based on 2016, that there were 2,158 employees directly engaged on productions supported by section 481. The analysis estimates that a further 902 indirect employments are related to those to give a total of 3,060 full-time equivalents associated with section 481 film-relief projects in 2016. That is based on the criteria set out in the cost-benefit analysis so members can see exactly what was taken into account in arriving at those figures. I am aware of larger figures, one from a report done by Olsberg of the audiovisual sector as a whole, which is a wider sector, including radio, for example.