Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I do not believe there is any dispute among any of us, notwithstanding all of the debates, about the need to invest in Irish language film, to invest in the film industry and to invest in the very talented crew, performers and artists that we have in this country. There was no dispute about that. I would like to see more money going in, not less. The big question that I feel is unanswered comes back to this issue of work being project by project. At the end of the day it comes back to that notion. It is a mantra I hear repeated. I question it, to be honest. Of course it is project to project. So are plays. The plays that go on in the Abbey Theatre, are project to project. Just about every form of artistic endeavour is project to project at a certain level. There seems to be a unique conclusion drawn with regard to live-action film that because it is project by project, nobody can have a job. In every other area where work is project to project, people have jobs. Uniquely in live-action film nobody can have a job. I do not accept that, to be blunt about it. It involves two groups of people. From the point of view of the actors, I perceive we are saying "We know that because of the nature of acting we cannot have a permanent job but we want the full remuneration for our performance. That is what we want but we are not getting it." That is what Equity is telling us. Then there is the crew. There is an idea that the crew are in the same position as the actors but there are different requirements. It is different. There is an idea that one must get rid of set painters, stagehands, drivers or prop makers every time a project is finished with absolutely no security for them getting onto the next production. It must be remembered that much of this is funded with public money, which is in fact their money and taxpayers' money. Both groups emphasised that this is taxpayers' money. I just do not accept that. I do not see why it is necessary, based on the assertion that it is project to project. It is not the case anywhere else. This also relates to the question of trainees. I get that things have moved on; it is partly because some of those groups have come in here and raised these issues that things have moved on. If I understand it correctly, while Screen Ireland is assessing that there may be some training going on in film production, we do not know if those trainees will be employed on the next production by that same film producer. Am I right in saying that? Also, there is no accreditation for their training. Unlike an apprentice carpenter or bricklayer there is no point at which we can say they are qualified in a particular occupation.