Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Deputies for their comments, including Deputies Boyd Barrett, Joan Collins, Ó Snodaigh and Burton. I did not have time to mention Deputy Joan Collins last week, but I thank her for her contribution.

The amendments were ruled out of order on the basis that they dealt with subject matter unconnected to the Bill. I wish to make clear that the committee itself decided not to go ahead with pre-legislative scrutiny. It informed the Department of the decision on 18 October. That is the reason we are here in the Dáil today. There was no conspiracy in that regard.

In any event, this should be a straightforward Bill. It is a simple Bill to increase, subject to the normal Estimates and budgetary process, the limit for the cumulative capital expenditure of Screen Ireland, Fís Éireann, from €300 million to €500 million. There is an increase of 14% in 2019 to Fís Éireann, increasing its allocation to €20.4 million and there was an increase of €2 million in funding to Screen Ireland this year as well.

I will respond to some of the points that have arisen. In general, there is a ten-year action plan for the audiovisual sector and, under the plan, a steering group will oversee the €200 million investment of taxpayers' money, which is targeted at this sector in the national development plan. It will also examine funding models, regulatory reform and other supports in addition to general oversight.

Deputies Boyd Barrett, Burton, Ó Snodaigh and Joan Collins mentioned training. Earlier this year Screen Ireland set up a sub-committee of its board to oversee training. It also employed a new director of its training division, Screen Skills Ireland. In the Government's audiovisual action plan, which was published last June, there were a significant number of recommendations and actions to be undertaken in the training area, including the matching of skills with production growth and partnering with third level institutions in skills development. Reference was made to the unrest in the film industry. I am acutely aware of that and I would welcome any suggestions from Deputies on a way to remedy it. There are issues of inter-union rivalry currently, which are stymying any progress and it is very important that we get to the bottom of them. It is unseemly to have worker representatives at loggerheads with each other on these matters. Some Deputies are aware that officials from my Department are available to meet with all industry stakeholders and they do so. Last year, the international consultants, Olsberg SPI, with Nordicity, carried out 90 separate consultations, evaluated 180 data sources and collected data through surveys for their report.

Several contributions related to section 481. This section excludes broadcasters from applying for the tax relief in their own right and a broadcaster has to partner with an Irish company to qualify for the relief. A company must also have a record of being in the jurisdiction for 21 months to be paid relief. That is not an unreasonable provision because it acts to protect the taxpayer. To obtain tax relief under section 481, each producer company is required to provide proposals to my Department on its planned training to fulfil its requirement under section 481. The producer company must provide those in its application for the tax relief in advance of the project. The Department can accept the proposals or request changes. To monitor the provision of training, each producer company is required to provide a return to the Department on training within four months of the completion of the project. The return must include the trainee name, the training role, the mentor role, the period of training and the amount of compensation paid to the trainee. The information provided to my Department is for the purposes of monitoring compliance with the conditions of the award of tax relief under section 481 of the Act. It contains significant personal information as well, which is subject to data protection requirements, and it cannot be universally disseminated.

With regard to legal protections for workers in the film industry, it is important to note that employees in every industry and sector are entitled to all existing legal protections. As Members will be aware, legislation is being introduced by my colleague, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection. The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017 should improve the insecurity and unpredictability of working hours for employees on insecure contracts and those working variable hours. Employment law in general should also have a role to play in terms of existing legal protections. There are also institutions for reporting abuse of employment legislation. I am satisfied that the industry works in general to a high standard. My Department is working with all partners to ensure that all sectors of the industry comply with their obligations.

I mentioned the audiovisual action plan that I launched last June. There is a steering group to implement the plan. This is a whole-of-Government approach to the audiovisual industry. Deputy Burton mentioned female representation in the film industry. Screen Ireland has committed to address gender inequality in Irish film-making. Screen Ireland is doing all it can to work towards achieving the target of 50:50 gender parity by 2020 in creative talent working in screen content. There has been a significant increase of 62% in applications received from female talent and an 82% increase in funding awards for female talent in 2018 in comparison to the 2017 figures.

Deputies Ó Snodaigh, Boyd Barrett, Burton and Joan Collins referred to people working in the film industry in general. My Department has published additional information on its website, which is now available on the audiovisual sector, in the form of a technical annexe to the audiovisual report. As I mentioned earlier, there were 90 separate consultations. We must ensure that all the information is taken into account.

The promotion of the Irish film industry in general is the responsibility of Screen Ireland, which was formerly the Irish Film Board. It is fair to say that it has undergone major change and development both domestically and internationally in recent years. It has a vision for a vibrant, creative, and sustainable Irish film, television and animation industry with diverse voices, talent and opportunities. It promotes Irish film and animation in a number of A-list international festivals and markets, as well as promoting Ireland as the location for internationally mobile film production. The overall audiovisual action plan was launched last June and the key points of the plan include the extension of section 481 tax relief, a regional uplift of 5%, an increase in business skills development, matching the skills with production growth and partnering with third level institutions and skills development. It is important to note as well that the plan was underpinned by an economic assessment of the audiovisual industry by Nordicity with Olsberg SPI consultants.

They said Ireland's film, television and animation sector could, in a period of five years, double employment to over 24,000 full-time jobs with a gross value of nearly €1.4 billion, and I hope that will happen.

The loan facility was mentioned by Deputies Boyd Barrett and Burton. The assistance given by the Government through its various agencies is usually by way of non-repayable grants. Screen Ireland is unusual in that it awards grants by way of loans which are repaid if and when the project is successful enough to make a profit. The repayment of any loan allows Screen Ireland to increase the level of loans given to projects. This system of support operated by Screen Ireland allows Irish indigenous film and television projects to be made which would not otherwise be made. This means profit is not the only consideration in the support of the audiovisual sector. As is the case with some statutory bodies that receive public funding, a limit was set by statute on such outlay when the Irish Film Board Act was enacted in 1980. That is why we have to change the limit from €300 million to €500 million, as Deputies know.

Deputy Boyd Barrett is right that we need good data to evaluate our investment in the audiovisual sector on an ongoing basis. As I mentioned, we are going to look at this in the context of the ten-year audiovisual action plan.

I discussed the question of broadcasters. There is a balance to be struck. They are not all international, although I know some international broadcasters have lobbied to have the broadcaster exclusion dropped. We will examine this to see if there is a disincentive in this regard.

Deputy Joan Collins referred to Screen Ireland and section 481. In fact, Screen Ireland has no involvement with section 481.

Deputies Burton and Joan Collins raised the issue of board appointments. Nomination to the board is subject to the guidelines for the appointment of members to State boards. If anyone wants to apply, it is done through the PAS system. The board of Screen Ireland is not a representative board but it is skills-based under the Act. There are seven members under the Act and I accept this should be looked at as it is probably a very low number for a board. Screen Ireland has a robust policy for dealing with conflicts, which is important. I hope I have covered most of the issues.

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