Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 24 September 2019

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Scrutiny of Tax Expenditures: Screen Producers Ireland

Ms Elaine Geraghty:

I am happy not to refer to previous committee meetings but it is really relevant because there are a number of obligations tied to section 481 being received. With the move to a self-assessment model, the producers themselves are individually required to declare that there is compliance with lots of things, including skills development. One has to put forward a plan in order to get certified in the first instance to be allowed to be considered for section 481 at all. I refer also to areas such as legislation and quality employment. In that context, "quality employment" means adherence to all employment legislation. Producers are required, individually and personally, to give a written declaration that they will be obliged to deliver all of those. In the context of section 481 as a relief in its own right, regardless of any other discussions in any other committees, that is what is required of a producer. The Deputy wanted to speak about companies of scale. I will defer to my colleagues who actually own a company.