John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I express my appreciation that the House has facilitated my Department in taking this Bill at short notice.

This short Bill, the Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2006, has a simple but important objective, namely, to increase the statutory limit on the cumulative capital outlay, commitments and liabilities that the Irish Film Board may incur. As is the case with some statutory bodies that receive public funding, a limit was set by statute on such outlay when the Irish Film Board Act 1980 was enacted. The Houses of the Oireachtas must update this limit every three to five years.

The Irish Film Board (Amendment) Act 2000 increased the limit from £30 million to £80 million or approximately €101.5 million. In the absence of amending legislation, spending by the Irish Film Board, inclusive of the recently announced additional allocation, will reach this statutory limit by year end. It is now proposed, therefore, to increase this limit to €200 million to allow the board to continue to operate within an appropriate statutory limit, subject to the normal annual Estimates process.

The Irish Film Board has a dual mandate to develop Irish film-making talent which can engage audiences at home and abroad while maintaining and building the resources, craft and skills of the industry through attracting international productions to Ireland. Evidence of the necessity for this legislation is borne out by the activity of the board in recent times. Following the publication of the 1998 strategic review of the Irish audiovisual industry, known as the Kilkenny report, key Government decisions were taken to assign a central place in Ireland's industrial policy to the audiovisual production industry. This included a restructuring of the board which resulted in its staffing numbers increasing from four in 2000 to its current staffing complement of 16. The board's staff have direct industry experience and are experts in the field.

In the same period, the board's Exchequer current and capital funding has risen from a total of €10.16 million in 2000 to €19.4 million by the end of 2006, almost a doubling in its funding. In the past six years, the environment in which the board operates has undergone massive and constant evolution and development, both domestically and internationally. I am pleased the board has reflected and adapted to these changes. As is only too well known, one cannot stand still in any endeavour if it is to succeed and the film sector is no exception. One must adapt to changing circumstances, including in the type of projects being developed, the audiences to be reached and the markets to be targeted.

The Irish Film Board, with Government support, has adopted a strategic approach to meeting these challenges. Through its varied schemes and programmes, it aims to assist projects at the earliest stage of development, through the pre-production phase to production and post-production. It has established clear polices, from bringing forward and nurturing talent using its short film schemes, up to its most recent initiative for company development, which is aimed at moving forward with a number of more established companies in streamlining their funding structures.

In addition, through its funding of Screen Training Ireland, in conjunction with FÁS, the board addresses the needs of the industry at entry level. Thus, training supports can be put in place to match the requirements of the marketplace and render its participants relevant to the sector they want to enter. In this regard, it is noteworthy that between 2000 and 2005 an average of 630 participants have undertaken professional training annually.

As is evident from the award of a short film Oscar for "Six Shooter" and the Palme d'Or for "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" at the Cannes Film Festival, these policies are working. As I said at the time, "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" would shake Fine Gael.

See this speech in context