Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

While the changes recommended in the Bill before us today will hopefully lead to larger film and television productions and a stronger industry as a whole, it is essential that industry elements that lie outside the traditional hubs of Dublin, Wicklow and Galway benefit from the increase of activity in the sector. While I am obviously keen to represent the constituents of Laois-Offaly as a priority, these sentiments were recently shared by a national industry report. The Creative Capital report on building Ireland's audiovisual creative economy to which I referred to earlier refers to the need for a regional policy to assist local film offices and digital industry initiatives develop in a co-ordinated manner and to ensure that regional and national policies for the industry are aligned. It also recommends that small, niche content companies and content creators driven by innovation and creativity be protected and developed. We have many such small companies throughout the country.

In an age where new technology can facilitate job creation, media creation and information sharing, it is essential that it and the subsequent industry investment can, where the skills and facilities exist, enable storytellers from all over Ireland to tell their stories in their own way and in their own place.

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