Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I have often said that we are only scratching the surface when it comes to the Irish film industry. There is great potential, but we need to roll up our sleeves and come at it from a fresh direction. There are almost 2,000 people employed full time in the industry, which is the highest number since 2000. We are doing very well in television and we have also had wonderful successes in the Oscars and with other awards. I am bit concerned that we have not managed to attract feature films in sufficient quantity. We were able to attract many such films years ago, but we have only done one or two in recent years. I have instructed the Department and the Irish Film Board to figure out the problem and I will see what I can do to respond to it.

The Minister for Finance extended the tax concession in the budget, which was widely welcomed by the industry and which should help somewhat. We are only scratching the surface and we can do much more. I look forward to working with the film industry to making that happen.

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