Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I will press for urgency on this. The workers are seriously considering taking industrial action in the near future because they are so fed up with this. Having trainees is fine, but it must be a real progression. One cannot be a trainee for 12 years. One might be a trainee for a couple of years, at which point one is certified and then a qualified worker in the film industry and should be paid and employed accordingly. The issue is not just one of trainees, but also one of people being taken on as contractors, a little like bogus self-employment in the building industry, whereby one is never actually directly employed. Shelf companies are set up for the duration of the film instead of people actually having some sort of permanency and security as they develop their skills and are paid and employed with proper conditions of employment that would follow from that. I ask the Minister to look at this and to engage with all sectors of those representing the workers in this industry.

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