Dáil debates

Thursday, 6 December 2018

Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2018: Second Stage

 

3:00 pm

Photo of Niamh SmythNiamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil will support this Bill. As is the case with some statutory bodies that receive public funding, a limit was set by statute on such outlay, in this case when the Irish Film Board Act 1980 was enacted. The limit must be updated by the Houses of the Oireachtas every few years. The Bill is technical in nature and will allow Fís Éireann to raise the ceiling of the aggregated support provided to the film industry to €500 million. In recent years the Irish production sector has expanded in a positive way. This is a result of a number of big-budget TV dramas produced in Ireland, which started with "The Tudors" more than a decade ago. As a result, Ireland is the 17th most popular location in the world for filming TV shows and movies according to a recent study. Considering the size of Ireland by comparison with some countries which ranked higher than ours, this is something of which we can be very proud.

Fís Éireann is playing an important role in ensuring that this success translates into the development of our own indigenous sector. I note the high level of interest in the new writing development loans earlier in the year as an indication that these productions have led to a growing level of interest.

I wish to take this opportunity to note in particular the high level of female protagonists and producers in Irish film in recent years. Last year, seven out of ten Irish films had a female protagonist. This is something of which we can be proud. The monitoring that Fís Éireann has undertaken is of great value. However, I note that the number of female directors has stayed relatively stagnant at just over 20%. Further effort on the part of the Minister may be warranted to address this.

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