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

The "Prime Time" programme certainly outlined the disputes that exist. However, it was a bit of a travesty in terms of balance because it tried to imply that one group alone was responsible for problems in the industry and deliberately ignored evidence from other sources, for example, from workers in the industry and in particular from a number of organisations such as the GMB and SIPTU-Equity, whose representative, for example, said blacklisting was widespread in the industry.

The point is that no group should have a veto on whether this forum happens. The forum should happen. Everybody should be involved and these issues should be resolved. I agree there are internecine trade union disputes and so on, but it is not a trade union forum; it is an industry stakeholders forum. Trade unions should be invited but all representatives of workers and all stakeholders need to get into a room to resolve this in the interests of the film industry. While I appreciate the Minister's response, we have to force the pace of this and ensure that industry forum happens and that nobody tries to boycott or sabotage it.

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