Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the work the Deputy has done on this matter, which he has raised in our debates on several Finance Bills. As he acknowledged, I made changes on foot of that.

We debated this issue on Committee Stage. I will not repeat the arguments because the Deputy knows what they are and he knows that I take this matter seriously. As I indicated to him in the previous debate, it is my view that the conditions must be met, not just by a producer company, but by the DAC formed for the production of a film. If a producer does not comply with the employment and skills development requirements set out by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, it may not be eligible for the corporate tax credit and any amount already claimed may be recoverable, with interest.

The auditing of many of these issues in the context of employment rights legislation is a matter for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I am awaiting the outcome of a process that is under way at the WRC. I hope that there will be agreement later this year on a framework approach to these matters in the sector. It will be an important step forward in dealing with the issue that Deputy Boyd Barrett and I have debated for the past number of Finance Bills. My departmental officials are following the process in the WRC. We hope that it will yield a successful conclusion. We will then use a framework that may emerge from it as another way in which the various issues that we are debating can be monitored.

If further action is needed, I will take it because I take this matter seriously. I will read the letter that the Deputy mentioned. I have not seen it yet because it only seems to have been issued to me today. The next step for me in trying to reach an overall agreement on issues within the sector will be the process at the WRC. If that process yields an agreement, which I hope it will, it will be a further way in which the issues we are debating can be addressed.

See this speech in context