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

There is adequate funding. Since 2016, the statistics have shown significant progress. In 2016, for example, only 34% of successful project development applications had female writers. This has increased by 10% with 44% of successful applications in 2018 having a woman writer attached. In documentary development, successful women directors were at 8% in 2016, which has increased to 48% in 2018, a 40% increase. There has also been an increase in successful women writers in animation development by 31% between 2016 and 2018. These clearly demonstrate the increased percentage in women's representation in the industry. The Deputy is correct that we must continue to do this. Funding initiatives for this include POV, which is a training scheme aimed exclusively at female talent. There is also a low-budget film production and training scheme for female talent and enhanced production funding for female initiated and driven feature films, which increased support of up to €100,000 for projects applying for Irish production funding if the film is led by an Irish woman director, writer or a combination of both. Gender parity will continue to be monitored across all schemes.

See this speech in context