Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also submitted an amendment to section 1 which was ruled out of order. My amendment sought to address some of the concerns raised by Deputy Boyd Barrett. The amendment, which should still be accommodated by the Minister, calls on her to produce regulations which would rule out certain work practices and govern terms and conditions of employment in the film industry.

The State has invested an enormous amount of money in this sector. Tax relief is tax forgone which means that the Irish people have not enjoyed that money because it has been invested in the film industry rather than being collected in taxes. What do we have to show for that? What are the consequences and benefits of that? Certainly from an artistic point of view and in terms of our international standing and the films that have been made here, the results are obvious. While terms and conditions of employment and the skill set of those working in the Irish film industry have also improved, we still do not have the register to which Deputy Boyd Barrett referred earlier. As with many other industries, many of those working in the sector have gone overseas. The film sector, like many others, is experiencing a brain drain.

As I have said, we are investing in the sector through both grant aid and tax forgone. In that context, we need to be sure that the Irish taxpayer and this Parliament are getting a bang for our buck and I do not just mean getting international exposure because we have contributed to the production of a very good film and to the enjoyment of millions who watch it. We also need to see the industry achieve sustainability. When I was first elected, I was lobbied very heavily in 2004 on section 481. The lobbying campaign was absolutely brilliant in its execution. Those working in the industry as well as their family members were involved in writing individual letters. It was not like the campaigns we see nowadays, with the same email sent multiple times. The letters were from individuals and their families who appealed to Deputies to retain the aforementioned section 481 tax relief in order to keep themselves, their brothers, uncles and so on in employment. I had absolutely no problem with that at the time and I still have no problem with it. However, 14 years later it is hard to stand over the benefits since then. There is no State-owned infrastructure as a result of this investment. We do not have terms and conditions of employment here that would be considered second to none in the film industry. Indeed, we lag very far behind in that regard. Quality employment is not being created and quality training is not being provided. Certainly, new workplaces and new film studios are being developed but they are not State owned.

I raised the issue of continuity of employment when we last discussed the film industry. It is not too difficult to know what film is coming next. While there will always be some sort of gap in terms of when people with different levels of expertise are required on a film set or in film production, it should be relatively easy to work out how many people are working at a given point in time. What we have seen is people being counted twice or three times over the course of a year so that the figures for employment in the industry are inflated. Figures are often announced by Fís Éireann or the Department which are exaggerated. That is not the fault of Fís Éireann or the Department which are getting these figures from the industry. The figures should come with a caveat because some people will work for two months on one film set, for three months on another and for six on a third set.

These are matter which should have been dealt with in this Bill. My amendment has been ruled out of order because it has been deemed to be unrelated to the aims of this Bill. However, it is related because if we are jumping from an allowable spend of €300 million to €500 million, we should be able to attach caveats or rules to that. That is what we tried to do with our amendments. We also raised these matters during the Second Stage debate. We know what Fís Éireann or Screen Ireland spends. That is clear and is increasing, which I welcome. However, we have not seen problems in the industry being addressed and if they were addressed, we might not even need amendments to legislation. In my amendment, I was trying to give the Minister some leeway in allowing her to introduce regulations. As with other similar legislation, the Minister would be making regulations. That said, I would prefer that any regulations would be presented to the relevant Oireachtas committee before being signed off. In this instance, given the short period of time involved and the lack of pre-legislative scrutiny, we did not have a detailed discussion on this. I also did not want to delay the Bill unnecessarily.

The funding of films here is done by way of the creation of special purpose vehicles which, of itself, can create problems. I have already mentioned the fact that many jobs in the industry are precarious. People are given work for a week here and a week there. If they raise any concerns or complaints, they are guaranteed that not only will they be put off the set on which they are currently working, but that they will not get work on another set and in some cases, they will not work on a film set in Ireland ever again. People might be trying to look out for colleagues on a film set. They might raise matters related to bullying or ask about compensation for working over and above hours for which they are contracted to work or for which no advance notice was given. A lot of people to whom I have spoken have said that at some points in their careers, they were almost expected to work for nothing. We are all aware of the scandals related to unpaid internships in the past. Employment in the industry is precarious with many people on zero hour contracts.

That ties in with the need for greater liaison among the Minister, the Department, Fís Éireann and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to ensure people who work in an industry from which we all benefit have some type of a financial net between periods of employment in the film industry.

There are a number of other issues which need to be considered. Will the Minister give an undertaking to return to the issue of films? We will not oppose the legislation at this point but there are concerns, and we need some indication at some stage that she will seriously address the concerns that have been raised with me and other Deputies, whether through regulation or other legislation, to ensure this industry is properly regulated? We have similarly asked in the Chamber for other industries to be properly regulated in order that there is not abuse and that there is some mechanism of redress, which does not now exist.

The Minister raised the point that a worker can be blacklisted in the film industry. When workers come forward to Deputies as whistleblowers, they do not want their names mentioned in the House for fear of losing the job in which they have spent many years working and gaining expertise. In some cases, these people are the best in the industry, yet they fear for their job even though there might not be anyone who can match them in this jurisdiction or on many others. They fear for their job because it is precarious employment.

We have a reputation for being favourable to art, artists and those working in the arts. That reputation is generally justified but not in regard to the concerns I have raised.

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