Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Film, whether for cinema, television or small personal screens, is probably the most popular cultural activity, not only in Ireland but also on the planet. In that sense, having a screen or film industry in Ireland is very important in terms of the country's capacity to respond in cultural terms to the modern world and modern life. Almost every European country, and most other countries, seek to have a film industry.

The context of this Bill is raising the maximum aggregate amount of investment, loans, grants or moneys provided from €300 million to €500 million. That is broadly welcome. What is lacking in the Department, however, is a sense of current policy other than in a very narrow commercial sense. The Minister is in her job for quite a while now. Has she come to any view, as Minister, as to how the industry should be developed? We need to move on from the model that former Minister Michael D. Higgins established in the 1990s, which has been enormously successful. We need to move on with development. There has not been much information from the Department other than programmes that taxpayers find very difficult to understand. The Irish Film Board went out of existence quite a long time ago. I do not understand, therefore, why this Bill does not refer to Screen Ireland. Screen Ireland is inclusive of the broader industry because people consume the product in a variety of ways in addition to traditional film shown in traditional cinemas.

Let me outline what I would like to know in the first instance. In terms of the structures of Screen Ireland, why not have a project board that addresses in a formal way the issues concerning training, because this is where it starts, and also apprenticeships, including recognised apprenticeships, in the film industry? Has the Department any proposals on new apprenticeships so the many young people interested in working broadly in the screen, film and audiovisual areas will have an opportunity and structured way in which to seek to develop a career in the industry? Would the Minister be prepared to implement this structure directly through this legislation or in the form of ministerial regulations?

As we all appreciate, the difficulty with film is that it is project based. Staff move from project to project. Therein lies the problem, particularly for people starting off in the industry. I refer to how they get training, education and appropriate experience in a way that is constructive for them as individuals and also constructive for the future of film in Ireland. There should certainly be a trade union-based industry in Ireland. If we do not have a structure, there is a risk that employees in the industry, especially in the early stages and in certain elements of the industry, will end up in very precarious employment while some of those on top will end up in very lucrative employment, most frequently self-employed people on contracts of limited duration for the length of a project. We need to think about that and reflect it in the Bill. The Minister needs to do so in order that those who have the objective of securing the tax reliefs and tax breaks will have a structure available to them by which they are made aware of what is necessary to proceed properly and treat people properly.

There was a disturbing report on film on "Prime Time" recently. We have all been approached by people on the production side and those working in the industry about concerns they have about terms and conditions of employment.

An issue arises about regional supports and how the industry is placed around the country. For instance, some supports are not necessarily available in the Cork area. Has the Minister considered this? Will she tell us what the problem is there? There are other parts of the country that might like to develop a film industry but it is a bit opaque as to how they might go about doing so. Private studios are being developed around the country. With the State having agreed to the disposal of Ardmore, what is the Minister's view, from a policy perspective, on how the State should continue to be involved? Is the State just the awarder of grants and tax breaks or will it have a more central role in the industry?

In Fine Gael, there is an ethos of privatisation of everything and minimum regulation of everything. In this case, however, we need to hear from the Minister her take on regulation and the involvement and expression of the involvement and interest of the public in this area given that the public, through the tax system, ultimately ends up being a significant contributor.

People have raised other issues with me. I know the industry itself has done a lot of work on this, but what is the position regarding children on set and how are they protected when working on set? I know that guidelines have been produced for films, but the Department, given its role, needs to be a leader in this regard. I do not know whether the Minister has seen, been consulted on, or carried out her own consultations on the guidelines for children on set, whether they need to be encoded in a form of regulation to provide for appropriate and maximum protection for minors on sets, and how this should be approached.

I wish to ask about another feature of the industry which has received a lot of attention in recent times. I refer to the gender pay gap. We are all aware of the fact that there has been worldwide disclosure on the gender pay gap in the film industry, including in areas such as Hollywood that we would most associate with the film industry on an international scale. There has also been such disclosure in companies such as the BBC, which is heavily involved in film, and recent disclosures in RTÉ on gender pay parity. Does the Minister have a policy on this? Should we have a code that is reflected either in ministerial regulation or in the Act itself? I want to hear from the Minister what her policies are in this regard. This all fits into the broad ambit of employment policy and the conditions and protections that exist in the industry.

I am also conscious of the fact that throughout the country there are now many overall media, film, arts and culture courses that involve film as a constituent part in further education and in third level, college and university education. The project-based nature of the industry, however, means it is very hard for people to get a start in it. People who come from families that may already be in the industry have a head start because they know where they are going, but others can find it very difficult to get a foothold. If we want to build up a sustainable cadre of people in Ireland who can express their creativity and their talents in the industry, it is very important there is a pathway for people to become involved in the industry in which they have spent a significant amount of time training or working for degrees, including postgraduate degrees. Again, the same issues arise worldwide. What is the Minister's policy on educational and training courses for the industry? Some are private; some are public. I hear suggestions from time to time that there may be too many courses and not enough employment available for all the people doing them. What is the Minister's and the Department's view on this?

I have raised with the Minister on many occasions the issue of Luggala, the home of the late Garech de Brún, who did so much for culture, music, film and the arts in Ireland. That estate, the 5,000 acres in the Wicklow Mountains, has been the scene of quite a few famous films and occasions. I and other Deputies have asked the Minister to consider acquiring the estate on behalf of the State. I realise and appreciate that this is almost exclusively a Fine Gael Government, that Fine Gael is averse to public ownership of additional assets and that its small number of coalition partners do not seem particularly interested in being involved in this at all. Luggala and its surroundings are very famous in Irish film history. Has the Minister in any way advanced her examination of the State taking Luggala, especially the land, into public ownership? I think we are all concerned that private property signs have been erected in recent months on the approach to an area which until now people have been free to access and which, as I said, is very much associated with films and film-making in Ireland.

I did not get a copy of the Minister's script. Does she have one available to give to us? I would like to know the details of policy as she has considered and developed it since she came into the Department. It is important that the Minister fills us in on these details.

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