Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)

While the Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2011 is technical in nature, it gives us an opportunity to discuss matters of importance to the industry. My great interest in Irish film might spawn from the fact my father worked on "Ryan's Daughter" back in 1969 before I was even a thought in his mind. The economic importance of the film industry is evident in how the location of this film in Dingle and west Kerry rejuvenated the local economy and put Dingle on the worldwide tourism map attracting thousands to the area. Growing up in the late 1980s and early 1990s - a golden era for Irish film - is probably another factor contributing to my personal interest in film. It is good to see the film industry achieve great success. The Minister himself has a deep personal interest in film which I learned from my time spent working with him.

I commend the Minister on the publication of his report, Creative Capital, earlier this year. It sets out a plan to increase the number working in the industry by 5,000 and its annual turnover to €1 billion. It is important that the Minister has a genuine interest in film.

Orson Welles stated: "Create your own visual style ... let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others." That quotation is very appropriate to the Irish film industry. Everyone agrees that Irish people are unique. We have our own unique outlook on the world, our own unique sense of humour and our own unique way of doing things. That is something we must continue to include in Irish film because people internationally are interested in us and it is excellent to see that portrayed on the screen. We have a rich literary and cultural heritage and a fantastic landscape to provide for outstanding cinematography. We have all the raw materials here to build a thriving film industry.

Reference was made to the opportunity to showcase Ireland through film. I mentioned "Ryan's Daughter" earlier but I met an American couple during the summer who were holidaying here because they saw Ireland in a few clips in the film "Marley and Me". Only about five minutes of that film were set in Ireland, yet they saw them and wanted to come here. That highlights the power of film, and we should not underestimate that. As I stated in a debate on tourism earlier in the term, film is an excellent medium for show-casing our country and we must be conscious of that.

The highly grossing films like "The Guard" or "Man about Dog" are important but some other Irish films have gone under the radar in recent years which were also important to the development of the arts here. It is important that the Irish Film Board continues to support those projects as well as the labour intensive projects even though it is widely acknowledged that we must use every opportunity we have to create employment in this country.

In regard to activity in my own constituency and in Kerry, it is encouraging to see the success of local film festivals such as the Kerry Film Festival held recently and the Dingle Film Festival which has been running for the past few years and will be held again on St. Patrick's weekend. These film festivals are an indication of the huge interest in film and it is important that they continue to get support.

I am proud to be a patron of an upcoming feature, "The Island", which is a story of people who had left but returned to the Blasket Islands. That is a project I hope will come to fruition in the coming years. I am very proud to be part of it and I hope support will be given to it.

I commend the Minister's work on this legislation and encourage him to do what he can in the future to continue to build the industry.

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