Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

What motivated this question, both for myself and I am sure for my colleague, is the recommendation in the McCarthy report and the concern it would cause to those in the industry and to me. All of us are conscious that not everything which was funded in the past will be funded in future. Nevertheless, it is important to begin establishing priorities to save so we can have something to build on when the good times return, as I hope they will.

We must be careful not to throw out the baby with the bath water. We should not stop the marketing of Ireland by the likes of Culture Ireland or the marketing budget of Tourism Ireland. We must be careful not to take our foot off the pedal in that regard. Putting the role of the Irish Film Board into a Department is not appropriate. I understand there may be a loss of some of the funding in the short term but it is important to keep the board as an entity.

The Minister was very vocal at the weekend at Farmleigh in support of culture as a whole. Is he making a commitment to retain the Irish Film Board? I have more questions but perhaps I will come back to them.

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