Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

We all recognise that money is tight and that there will be cutbacks. The purpose of these questions is to ensure that cutbacks will be made in a way that causes the least damage in terms of employment. I accept what the Minister said about the Western Development Commission's report. It is precisely because those jobs are dispersed throughout the country that is difficult to track what happens when cutbacks are made. Is there any possibility of tracking, through the CSO, the Arts Council or some mechanism within the industry, be it through theatre companies or the Irish Film Board, the impact of the economic downturn on the industry?

I am aware that the film industry is suffering in this respect. The Irish Film Board is commissioning less work, as is RTE, TV3 and TG4. Reports from within the film industry suggest there has been a loss of almost half of the jobs in the industry. That would be catastrophic because, as the Minister knows, it is an important sector and a big employer. It is one that can disappear from the country overnight as it is very mobile. That is the reason I am anxious to ascertain if there is any way of checking the impact of economic downturn on the industry and if, for example, the Irish Film Board should commission several smaller films rather than big one, given that our tax system is not very conducive to the funding of big movies.

See this speech in context