Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

May I finish? We had the meeting with Wicklow County Council and all of those people were in attendance. Bryan Doyle, the chief executive of Wicklow County Council, wrote to me. He welcomed my recognition of the importance of Ardmore Studios to County Wicklow and the mid-east region and my acknowledgement that the development of the film industry is a key pillar of the action plan for jobs for the region. That is what Enterprise Ireland is good at. He went on to point out that the audio-visual industry is one of the primary objectives set out in that action plan and that Wicklow is the lead authority in this action area. He said that the local enterprise office, LEO, in Wicklow, together with four other LEOs in the south east, has initiated the south-eastern creative corridor project aimed at creating a vibrant, viable and growing cluster in the region.

I emphasised at the meeting that the intention is that the studios be sold as a going concern - I have been saying that repeatedly - and that the final decision would be taken with me and the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. All of the county councillors and the chief executive gave me a strong commitment that the zoning would not change. The Deputy was a county councillor so he knows about zoning. If the county councillors continue to be influenced by the local people and local representatives, the zoning will never change. Enterprise Ireland and I want it sold as a going concern. We are not in the business of film production and do not have that expertise, but we have the expertise to ensure we develop the action plan for film production in the area.

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