Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

As the Deputy may be aware, a steering committee was established in 2009 by the then Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht with the specific purpose of developing a series of recommendations aimed at stimulating the growth of Ireland's audiovisual industry over a five-year period. The results of the work of this committee are set out in the Creative Capital report which was published in July 2011.

Among the recommendations contained in this report is a proposal for the creation of a single funding agency for the audiovisual sector. In essence, this proposal envisages that all State funding related to audiovisual content production would be transferred to a revamped Irish Film Board. This would include the funding currently available to television and radio content producers under the Sound and Vision fund, which is part of the broadcasting fund currently administered by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

Since the publication of the report and on foot of a Government decision, a new interdepartmental committee was established by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and has been tasked with examining the feasibility of the various recommendations contained in the report. This committee comprises representatives of relevant Departments, including the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, as well as certain industry bodies.

The committee has met twice since it was established and it is my understanding that no formal discussion has yet taken place on the recommendation referred to by the Deputy. As the committee has yet to consider the feasibility of this particular recommendation, there have been no discussions or correspondence in respect of the question of any legislation that might be required in the event that this particular proposal was considered to be practical or feasible. I can confirm, however, that I have had correspondence with the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in regard to the possible inclusion of a representative of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland on the committee and this has now been agreed.

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